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Euro area developments
The improvement of euro-area sentiment resulted from slight increases in confidence among consumers and retail trade managers, while confidence remained broadly unchanged in industry and services. Only confidence in construction decreased sharply. Amongst the largest euro-area economies, the ESI increased in Spain (+0.7), France and Germany (both by +0.4), while it remained virtually unchanged in Italy (-0.1) and worsened in the Netherlands (−1.0).
EU developments
The increase in the headline indicator for the EU (+0.9) was slightly more pronounced, thanks to improvements in the ESI for the UK (+1.1) and Poland (+0.7). In line with the euro area, confidence remained broadly stable in industry and improved in retail trade and among consumers. By contrast, EU confidence improved markedly in services and remained broadly stable in construction. The rise in EU financial services confidence was in line with euro-area developments. EU managers' employment expectations remained broadly stable in industry and services, while they decreased slightly in retail trade and construction. Price expectations declined in industry and services, while increasing marginally in retail trade and remaining practically unchanged in construction.