After the partial recovery of sentiment between May and September and the broad sideways movement in October, the drop is the first one since sentiment fell sharply in the first COVID-19 wave. The Employment Expectations Indicator (EEI) posted its second monthly decline in a row (down by 3.3 points in both regions to 86.6 in the euro area and 87.2 in the EU). In the euro area, the ESI’s decline was fuelled by diving confidence in retail trade, services and among consumers. Sentiment in industry and construction held up rather well, posting comparatively mild deteriorations. Amongst the largest euro-area economies, the ESI plunged in Italy (-8,7) and France (-4,8), while its losses were more contained in Germany (-2.8) and Spain (-2.0). The Netherlands bucked the trend with a moderate improvement in sentiment (+1.0). The second consecutive monthly drop of the Employment Expectations Indicator (-3.3) reflects sharply scaled back employment expectations in retail trade, as well as moderately lower ones in services and construction.