Eurozone: Economic sentiment declines in March - ING

Bert Colijn, Senior Economist at ING, notes that the Eurozone Sentiment Indicator (ESI) declined from 114.2 to 112.6, which rounds out the second month of disappointing survey data for the region. 

Key Quotes

“While the economy continues to perform strongly, some clouds have reemerged on the horizon. Trade war concerns take centre stage and are adding uncertainty to the outlook for businesses and impacting the view on the general economic situation for consumers. Both manufacturers and the service sector experienced declining sentiment. Consumer confidence was unchanged after a large drop in February as lower expectations for inflation offset a weaker view on the economy and household finances.”

“On the bright side, employment expectations in services continue to improve despite uncertainty about global growth, meaning that the job market is likely to stand firm in the months ahead which should limit the downside to consumption growth as well. Export orders books only dropped from 2.5 to 2, indicating that the main channel through which trade concerns impact the economy for the moment is confidence and not yet trade itself.”