Eurozone economic confidence improved unexpectedly in October, though slightly, survey data from European Commission showed Thursday.
The economic sentiment rose to 105.9 in October from 105.6 in the previous month. Economists had expected the index to fall to 105.1.
The stabilisation of euro-area sentiment resulted from important increases in confidence in retail trade and construction which were partly outweighed by the deterioration in services and consumer confidence, while industry confidence remained broadly flat, the agency said.
The confidence index for industry rose to -2.0 in October from -2.3 in the prior month. The index measuring confidence in the retail sector strengthened to 6.5 from 4.2.
At the same time, the consumer confidence index dropped to -7.7 in October, in line with flash data, from -7.1 in the previous month.
Another report from EU showed that business confidence improved for the second straight month to 0.44 in October from 0.36 a month ago.
Managers’ opinion of past production and export order books improved notably in October and also total order books and the current stock of finished products were assessed more positively. In contrast, managers’ production expectations were revised downwards.
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