Slightly Better Climate For Business

The business climate indicator (BCI) for the euro area increased slightly in February by 0.12 points to +37. Management appraisal of past production, stocks of finished products and order books improved and production expectations remained stable.

Business Confidence Still Below Long-Term Average

The business climate and consumer confidence surveys published by the European Commission's Department of Economic and Financial Affairs say that while the business climate has remained stable in January 2013 at -1.09, economic sentiment has increased by 1.4% in both the EU and the euro area. It is the third month in a row that economic sentiment has risen but it remains below its long-term average.

Confidence increased in the services, construction, retail and consumer confidence but decreased in industry in the EU. In the euro area it was much the same picture, but retail and industry remained unchanged.

Business And Consumers In Europe Still Confident

The Business Climate Indicator (BCI) for the euro area increased slightly in December by .05 to -1.12 due to positive assessments of production expectations and order books.

The Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) improved by 1.3 points to 87 from 85.7 in the euro area in December and remained more or less unchanged in the EU27 at 88.4 from 88.1. Economic sentiment in the euro area improved among consumers and in all sectors except retail trade. In the EU27 economic sentiment increased in industry and construction but these were partly offset by decreases in services and retail trade. Consumer confidence in thne EU remained unchanged.

The Business Climate Indicator (BCI) of the European Commission Director General of Economic and Financial Affairs decreased by 0.15 points to -0.94. The decline was mainly driven by managers' negative assessments of production expectations, past production, overall order books and export order books. Their assessments of stocks of finished products remained unchanged.

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.

Business Confidence In Europe Shows Mixed Picture

Business confidence surveys in Europe show that economic sentiment (ESI) has remained broadly unchanged in the EU as a whole and in the euro area at respective levels of 93.8 and 94.8. There are mixed signals in the underlying data. Declines in industry and among consumers were offset by increases in retail, services and construction in EU27 and in construction and services in the euro area. While the economic sentiment results are unchanged the business climate survey (BCI) recorded a continued fall. The steady fall over the last eight months suggests a significant slowdown in production growth.

Business Confidence In Europe In November

The Business Climate Indicator (BCI) for the euro area from the European Commission went up again in November to 0.96 from 0.91 in October and is at its highest since December 2007. The increase is mainly due to better export order books and optimistic production expectations.

The Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) for November also increased in both the euro area and the EU27. The main contributor to the increase was sentiment in services which increased by 2.1 to 10.2 in the euro area and 3 to 7.8 in the EU27. Most reported increases in demand and business situation over the last quarter. The ESI in the euro area was at 105.3 and in the EU27 at 105.2.