“After the declines in 2018, consumer confidence has perked up in January and February. The February increase of 0.5 points to -7.4 justifies some cautious optimism about the state of the Eurozone economic slump,” notes ING’s senior economist Bert Colijn and adds: “Expect March to be a nail-biting month as deadlines approach.”
Key quotes
“Consumer confidence – like the German ZEW Index yesterday indicated some optimism about the state of the economy in February. With uncertainty abound, the European consumer is gaining some confidence as the fundamentals remain strong.”
“The geopolitical risks that play out over the coming weeks are therefore likely to decide on very divergent confidence scenarios for the Eurozone consumer. With finances in a strong position, consumption is likely to be an important driver of the economy in uncertain times as today’s figures indicate.”
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