Frankfurt, June 15 (BridgeNews) - The consumer confidence index dropped 3 points in May hitting the year low seen in February of 96 points as bad economic news hurt sentiment, the Nuremberg-based ICON research group said Friday. More consumers expected an economic worsening, as well as clearly higher consumer prices. Unemployment developments were also seen with increased skepticism. Expectations for personal income, however, remained stable so far.
In the rest of the euro zone, consumer confidence also declined in May, with a clear fall seen in France, in addition to Germany. Positive exceptions were seen in Ireland, which topped the list in terms of consumer confidence, followed by Finland and Belgium. An ICON index level of 100 represents a sentiment balance between optimists and pessimists.