Economic Sentiment Broadly Unchanged, Industry Confidence Weakens

EZ MAY ECONOMIC SENTIMENT INDICATOR 105.0; APR 104.9r

EZ MAY CONSUMER CONFIDENCE -21.1 (FLASH CONFIRMED); APR -22.0

EZ MAY INDUSTRIAL CONFIDENCE 6.3; APR 7.7r

EZ MAY SERVICES CONFIDENCE 14.0; APR 13.6r

EZ MAY EMPLOYMENT EXPECTATIONS 112.9; APR 112.6

• Eurozone economic sentiment was broadly unchanged in May at 105.0, 0.1 points above the April level. Sentiment in the EU saw a 0.5-point decrease to 104.1, largely due to lower confidence of industry managers.
• On a country level, Spain saw confidence up 4.1 points, followed by France +1.5 and Italy +0.8. Germany saw little improvement at +0.2. The Netherlands (-1.2) and Poland (-0.8) saw economic sentiment fall further in May.
• Employment expectations saw a moderate 0.3-point increase to 112.9.
• The 1.4-point fall in industry confidence was underscored by current order books seeing the steepest fall in two years. Production expectations saw a slight decline and outlooks of export order books saw substantial deterioration. At 6.3, industrial confidence was 1.2-points below forecasts.
• Service confidence ticked up by 0.4 points, however, demand expectations weakened.
• May consumer confidence was confirmed at -21.1, up 0.9 points from April. Expectations about the general economic situation worsened, however intentions to make major purchases and expectations about future financial situations saw improvements.
• The proximity of the Ukraine war coupled with surging inflation of 7.4% in April continues to see consumer confidence in starkly pessimistic territory. Tomorrow will see the May flash HICP reading, which will likely be a fresh high of 7.8%.

Source: European Commission