Economic Sentiment decreases in both the euro area and the EU In September, the Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) decreased in both the euro area (by 0.7 points to 110.9) and the EU (by 0.9 to 111.3).

The decrease in euro-area sentiment resulted from lower confidence levels in the industry sector and among consumers, which were only partly offset by increases in the retail trade and construction sectors. Confidence in the services sector remained broadly stable. Amongst the largest euro-area economies, the ESI remained virtually unchanged in Germany (-0.2), Italy (-0.2) and the Netherlands (+0.1), while it decreased strongly in France (-1.7) and Spain (-1.5).

The decline in industry confidence (-0.9) resulted from a marked decrease in managers' production expectations and a smaller worsening of their assessment of the stocks of finished products, while managers' appraisal of the current level of overall order books improved slightly. Of the questions not included in the confidence indicator, managers' views on both export order books and past production improved somewhat.