EU’s economic sentiment drops in October

ISTANBUL

The EU’s economic sentiment dropped 0.7 points to 96 in October because of lower confidence in industry, according to survey results released Wednesday by the European Commission.

The Commission said the drop was lessened by smaller confidence gains in retail trade, construction and among consumers, while confidence in the services sector maintained stability

The highest drop in economic sentiment was seen in Spain with 4.8, followed by France with 4.7, Poland with 3.6 and the Netherlands with 2.3.

Germany, in contrast, saw an increase in economic sentiment by 0.8 points.

The Commission said industry confidence fell 1.8 points in October, while services confidence was stable at 0.1, a slight increase. Consumer confidence rose 0.5 due to improved perception of households, though households’ intentions to make major purchases remained unchanged.

Retail trade confidence climbed 0.9 and construction confidence moved up 0.7 points.

As for employment expectations, they remained stable with a slight increase of 0.1 at its long-term average. The Commission noted that construction and retail trade managers showed optimism in hiring plans, while industry and services managers did not.

The economic sentiment fell 0.7 points for the eurozone to 95.6, the results showed.