ZURICH (MaceNews) – Economic sentiment in the Eurozone rose to higher-than-expected levels in May, driven by a strong performance in the services sector, the latest report from the European Commission showed.
The Economic Sentiment Index (ESI) rose to 114.5 in May from 110.5 in April, beating the median of 112.1 in an Econoday survey of economic forecasts. “With that, ESI scores markedly above its long-term average and pre-pandemic level, close to its December 2017 peak” the Commission said.
Services were the main driver of the gain, improving to 11.3 from 2.2 in April and -9.6 in March.
Eurozone sentiment by sector:
- Industry: May 11.5 vs 10.9 in April (Econoday median forecast: 11.0)
- Industry: Highest level on record
- Consumer: May -5.1 vs -8.1 in April (Econoday median forecast: -5.1)
- Services: May 11.3 vs 2.2 in April
- Retail Trade: May 0.4 vs -3.0 in April
- Construction: May 4.9 vs 3.0 in April
The report also said selling price expectations “saw the third month of marked and uniform increases across all surveyed business sectors.” Consumer price expectations were not as strong as in other sectors but still “increased further for the fifth month in a row.”
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