Economic sentiment in the euro zone stabilised in February as a brightening in the mood of consumers was countered by a worsening of sentiment among retailers and builders, the European Commission said on Friday. Confidence in industry, however, remained steady in February from January at minus six, a three-year high. The overall index for economic sentiment in the 12-nation euro zone was steady at 96.0 in February, exactly in line with the expectations of economists. The indicator has been improving steadily since May, only interrupted by a fall in December as retailers' mood soured. The mixed picture of economic sentiment mirrors other key euro zone data this week, such as the influential German Ifo survey, which showed a decline in business sentiment for the first time in 10 months, showing weak momentum in the economic recovery.
The improvement in February consumer sentiment, to minus 14 from minus 15 in January, was better than expected as economists had been looking for the mood to remain unchanged. Eurostat also revised upwards January's overall sentiment to 96.0 from an originally reported 95.80, as well as industrial sentiment from minus 7.0 and consumer sentiment from minus 16. Separately, a euro zone business climate indicator also became less rosy in February when it lurched down from revised January levels. The indicator came in at 0.01, compared with a revised figure of 0.11 for January. The reading for last month had initially been reported at 0.04.
"This decrease was driven by a weakening in most components of the indicator," the Commission said in a statement. This included a weakening of recent production trends, export order books and stocks of finished products. The only component of the index that improved in February was production expectations, but this was not sufficient to make up for the worsening in the other areas, it said. The December reading was revised for the second time to minus 0.02 from minus 0.03.//