Euro zone economic sentiment fell much more than expected in April as the second full month of the war in Ukraine and related commodity price spikes hit confidence across all sectors, data showed on Monday.
The European Commission’s monthly economic sentiment indicator fell to 105.0 points last month from a downwardly revised 106.7 in March.
Economists polled by Reuters had on average expected a reading of 108.0, down from the initially reported 108.5 in March.
Industry was among the hardest sectors hit, sentiment declining to 7.9 points from 9.0 in March, while retail trade confidence fell to -4.3 from -2.4. Consumers became more pessimistic with a reading of -22.0 from -21.6. Services, a large part of the euro zone economy, edged lower to 13.5 from 13.6.
Selling price expectations among manufacturers rose to an all-time high of 60.8 from 57.2 in March but among consumers inflation expectations 12 months ahead fell sharply to 50.0 from an all time high of 62.9 reached in March.
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