Eurozone consumer confidence deteriorated for a fourth straight month in July and at a faster-than-expected pace, preliminary estimates from the European Commission showed Thursday.
The flash consumer confidence index dropped to -7.1 from -5.6 in June. Economists had forecast a score of -5.8.
The indicator dropped for the first time in five months in April from a pre-crisis high attained in March.
The consumer confidence index for the EU shed 1.6 points to -4.9.
The final figures will be released along with the economic sentiment data on July 30.
ING Bank economist Bert Colijn said the deterioration in consumer confidence showed that concerns about the Greek crisis are significantly impacting the consumers’ view on the economy, even though contagion effects on the rest of the Eurozone are currently much smaller than in earlier crisis situation.
“The weakening of confidence in the past months shows that strong consumption growth in the Eurozone of the past quarters could moderate somewhat as consumers have become more cautious in past months,” said Colijn
He said the trend is likely to remain relatively positive though, as the weak inflationary environment and improving labor market conditions would likely continue to fuel consumption growth in the second half of the year. This is supported by the fact that confidence is still well above its long-term average.
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