Den økonomiske indikator for EU landene var uændret i december – se oversigten her
For dansk økonomi var der tilbagefald på alle fem målepunkter, dvs. på industri service, forbrugertillid, byggeri & anlæg og detailhandel.
In December, the Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) remained stable for the second month in a row. It stayed unchanged (at 100.7) in the euro area and was also virtually flat in the EU (+0.1 points to 104.2).
Euro area developments
The flat developments in euro-area sentiment resulted from improved confidence among consumers and managers
in the services, construction and retail trade sectors being outweighed by worsened confidence in industry.
Amongst the largest euro-area economies, the ESI increased in Spain (+1.4) and Italy (+1.3), while it remained
unchanged in Germany and the Netherlands and decreased in France (-1.6).
The decline in industry confidence (-0.9) was fuelled by managers’ more pessimistic appraisals of the stocks of
finished products, the current level of overall order books and expected production. Of the questions not included in
the confidence indicator, views on past production deteriorated markedly, while they remained broadly unchanged
for export order books. Improved services confidence (+1.2) resulted from more positive assessments of all
components entering the indicator, namely demand expectations, the past business situation and, in particular,
past demand. Consumer confidence registered a moderate improvement (+0.6) as a result of consumers’
brighter assessments of the future general economic situation and their financial situation, in combination with
broadly unchanged expectations regarding future savings and future unemployment levels. Retail trade
confidence registered the third monthly uptick in a row (+0.7), thanks to managers’ improved appraisals of the
expected and present business situation. Views on the adequacy of the volume of stocks, by contrast, remained
broadly unchanged. Construction confidence improved (+0.8), owing to managers’ increased satisfaction with
the level of order books and slightly better employment expectations. Financial services confidence (not
included in the ESI) booked a significant increase (+4.4), fuelled by brighter assessments of the past business
situation and past demand, which dominated broadly flat demand expectations.
Employment plans saw upward revisions in industry, retail trade and, very moderately, in construction, while
remaining broadly unchanged in the services sector. Selling price expectations registered the sharpest drop of
the year in industry, while they decreased only moderately in the services sector and remained broadly unchanged
in retail trade and construction. Consumer price expectations remained on the broad downward path observed for
more than two years.
