France: Consumers remain optimistic in August
Consumer sentiment in France remained unchanged at 102 points in August, according to the French Statistical Institute (INSEE). As such, the index stayed at a year-and-a-half high and above the 100-point threshold—its long-term average. Notably, despite marking a pause to six consecutive months of improving confidence, August’s print suggested that French consumers continued to shrug off the pessimism settling in across much of the eurozone.
August’s result mostly reflected consumers’ decreasing concerns over unemployment and increasing propensity to save, which offset their weaker assessment of their standard of living in the past 12 months.