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Euro area developments
Improved euro-area sentiment resulted from marked increases in confidence in the industry, retail trade and construction sectors and, to a lesser extent, from an increase in confidence in the services sector. Only confidence among consumers remained virtually unchanged. Amongst the largest euro-area economies, the ESI rose strongly in Germany (+2.1) and, to a somewhat lesser extent, in Italy (+1.0), while it remained broadly stable in Spain (+0.3) and the Netherlands (+0.1) and decreased markedly in France (-1.6).
EU developments
The marginally more optimistic outcome for the EU ESI (+1.1) resulted from a marked improvement of sentiment in the largest non-euro area EU economy, the UK (+1.5); in Poland the indicator remained unchanged (+0.0). While confidence in industry, services and construction improved in line with the euro area, EU confidence in the retail trade sector remained broadly unchanged. As in the euro area, confidence stayed virtually unchanged among EU consumers and in the financial services sector. EU managers in industry, services and construction also reported upward revisions of their employment plans, while managers in the retail trade sector revised their employment plans downwards (instead of slightly upwards as in the euro area). Price expectations were in line with those for the euro area for the industry (down) and construction (up) sectors; however, prices were expected to remain broadly stable in EU services and retail trade.