According to the final report from the European Commission, consumer confidence in the eurozone rose in July, confirming economists' forecasts and reaching its highest level since February 2022.
The consumer confidence index rose to -13.0 points, as expected, compared to -14.0 points in June. Meanwhile, the economic sentiment indicator fell by 0.1 points to 95.8 points. Consensus estimates suggested a drop to 95.4. The employment expectations indicator fell to 97.8 from 99.6 in June.
As for the EU countries, the economic sentiment indicator rose by 0.1 points to 96.4 points, and the employment expectations indicator fell by 1.6 points to 98.7 points. The sideward trend of the economic sentiment indicator resulted from decreases in services and retail trade confidence, offset by improved confidence in construction and among consumers. Amongst the largest EU economies, the economic sentiment indicator deteriorated markedly in France (-2.2) and Poland (-1.8), while it improved strongly in Spain (+1.7) and, less so, in Italy (+0.4).
The data also showed that the indicator of economic uncertainty fell in July to 17.1 from 17.3 in June. Managers' uncertainty about their future business situation in services and construction and consumers' uncertainty about their future financial situation decreased. By contrast, business uncertainty increased slightly in industry and retail trade.