European Business Confidence Still Low

The Business Climate Indicator (BCI) for the euro area fell by 0.24 to -0.52 in April 2012 according to statistics from the Director General of Economic and Financial Affairs at the European Commission. The decline in confidence was mainly due to a negative assessment of export order books, past production and overall order books. Managers assessments of stocks of finished products remained unchanged. While business confidence fell slightly in April the Economic Sentiment Indicator remained stable in the EU at 93.2. In the euro area in fell significantly to by 1.7 points to 92.8. The decline was mainly due to less confidence in the industry and service sectors. The retail sector improved. The more positive index in the EU27 was mainly due to improvements in the UK. Economic sentiment remains well below its long term average. A flash estimate of consumer confidence shows that consumers were less confident in April than in March. In April the indicator declined to -20.1 from -19.3 in March in the EU27 and from -19.1 to -19.8 in the euro area.