Press Release: October 2012: Economic sentiment declines in the euro area but remains stable in the EU

In October the Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) remained unchanged in the EU, at 86.2, and declined by 0.7 points in the euro area, to 84.5. In the EU, marked declines in the industry and construction sectors were offset by improvements in services and retail trade.

Consumer confidence remained broadly unchanged. In the euro area marked decreases in industry and construction outweighed the improvement in the retail trade sector, while confidence in services and among consumers remained broadly stable. Overall, the decrease in the ESI has lost pace since September in both areas and has even come to a halt in the EU in October.

Although the majority of the Member States witnessed a drop in economic sentiment, this was only the case for three out of the seven largest Member States: the ESI registered falls in Poland (-2.8), France ( 1.8) and Germany (-1.4). However, the ESI continued last month's recovery in the UK (+5.2) and Spain (+1.8) and rose slightly in the Netherlands (+0.8) and Italy (+0.5).