Euro-zone Confidence Slumps; Spanish Inflation Eases to 2.9%

Arthi Gupta
30 Aug, 2011
New York City

Euro-zone economic confidence slumped but Italy business sentiment strengthened in August. Portuguese retail sales increased and. Swiss consumption indicator fell in July. Polish economy expansion flat in the second quarter.

[R]3:30 PM Frankfurt – Euro-zone economic confidence slumped but Italy business sentiment strengthened in August. Portuguese retail sales increased and. Swiss consumption indicator fell in July. Polish economy expansion flat in the second quarter.[/R]

Euro-zone Confidence Slumps

Euro-zone economic confidence slumped in August, according to a monthly survey from the European Commission released today.

The economic confidence index fell to 98.3 in August from 103 in July. The consumer confidence index dipped to -16.5 in August from -11.2 in July. Likewise, industrial confidence was at -2.9 in August, down from 0.9 in July.

Portuguese Retail Sales Improve, Output Falls

Retail sales in Portugal increased a seasonally adjusted 2.5% on a monthly basis in July compared to the 1.1% growth in June, data released by Statistics Portugal showed on Tuesday.

Retail sales of food products rose 2.8% in July after rising 2.5% in June. Retail sales of non-food items, excluding fuel, climbed 3.3% in July from the 2.2% growth in June.

From a year ago, retail sales decreased a seasonally and calendar adjusted 5.5% in July, after dropping 5.6% in June.

Separately, Portugal''s industrial production declined 4.5% annually in July as against the 2.8% decrease in June. Production in the manufacturing industry declined 1.5% in July after dropping 1.6% in June.

On a monthly basis, industrial production fell 3% in July, slower than the 3.2% decline in June.

In another report, Portugal''s economic climate index dropped to minus 2.4 in August from minus 2.3 in July. The latest reading was the lowest since May 2009.

Italy Sentiment Strengthens, Retail Sales Drop

Confidence among Italian businesses improved unexpectedly in August, data from the statistics office Istat showed on Tuesday.

The business sentiment index rose to 99.9 in August from 98.8 in July.

Separately, Italian retail sales declined a seasonally adjusted 0.2% on a monthly basis in June. Food product sales remained flat and non-food sales dipped 0.3% in June.

On a yearly basis, retail trade declined 1.2% in June.

Polish GDP Flat

The Polish economy expanded on a seasonally adjusted quarterly basis grew 1.1% in the second quarter, at the same pace as in the previous three months, data from the Central Statistics Office showed.

Spanish Inflation Eases

Spanish consumer price inflation slowed to 2.9% in August from 3.1% in July, flash estimate published by the statistics office INE showed on Tuesday. The final inflation figures for August will be published on September 13.

Swiss Consumption Indicator Declines

Switzerland''s consumption indicator dropped further by 0.23 points to 1.29 in July, the lowest level since December 2009, data released by UBS Bank showed.