Major economies leading confidence dip across EU
ITALY, France and the UK reported the largest declines in economic confidence in September, the European Commission reported yesterday.
The economic sentiment indicator declined by 3.4 points in the EU and Eurozone, falling to 94.0 and 95.5 respectively.
Italy, France and the UK suffered sentiment declines of 5.1, 3.5 and 3.4 points respectively, taking the indicator below its long term average in every country except for Germany.
Analysts believe the poor data may not be bad enough to push the European Central Bank (ECB) into a rate cut just yet.
“We believe these data provide a compelling case for interest rate cuts as soon as next Thursday,” said IHS Global Insight’s Howard Archer. “However, senior ECB officials are indicating that an rate cut next week is at best a possibility, despite the recent stream of pretty dismal Eurozone economic news.”