Euro Area: Economic sentiment falls in August
Latest reading: Economic sentiment decreased to 95.2 in August from July’s 95.7. Accordingly, the index remained below the long-term average of 100, pointing to a muted near-term outlook for the economy.
The deterioration was driven by weaker sentiment in the construction and services sectors. Moreover, confidence among consumers weakened. That said, sentiment in the industrial and retail sectors improved.
In terms of specific countries, sentiment declined in Germany, Italy and Spain, while it improved in France and the Netherlands.
Regarding indicators that are not used to calculate the index, employment expectations strengthened, while the economic uncertainty index fell in August.