Economic sentiment drops in both the EU and the euro area

It fell, by 2.2 percentage points respectively, to 102.4 in the EU and to 103.2 in the euro area. In the euro area the fall resulted from a decline in confidence in all sectors, with strong losses in industry and services. In the EU confidence also declined notably in industry, retail trade and among consumers, with marginal falls in services and an improvement in the construction sector.

Most Member States recorded a drop in sentiment. Among the seven largest EU Members States, confidence in Italy fell the most (-4.5), followed by Spain (-2.7). The confidence indicator fell less significantly in the Netherlands (-2.1), Germany (-1.8), the UK (-1.4) and France (-0.5), while it improved slightly in Poland (+0.4). In July, the ESI remains above its long-term average only in Germany and France.