France: Consumer confidence improves but remains in pessimistic terrain in December
Consumer confidence came in at 99.8 in December, up from November’s 98.4. Consequently, the index remained marginally below the 100-threshold, still indicating that consumers were pessimistic.
December’s improvement was largely attributed to easing pessimism over households’ assessment of their financial situation in the past 12 months. Moreover, consumers were more inclined to make big-ticket purchases, while their assessment of their standard of living in the past and coming 12 months turned less pessimistic. Meanwhile, households’ fears with regards to unemployment rose slightly but remained well below the long-term average.