Euro Zone Production Slumps 4.7%, Swiss Sentiment Declines

Arthi Gupta
19 Sep, 2012
New York City

Euro zone construction output fell and French leading economic index rebounded in July. Economic expectations in Switzerland declined slightly in September.

[R]1:30 PM Frankfurt – Euro zone construction output fell and French leading economic index rebounded in July. Economic expectations in Switzerland declined slightly in September.[/R]

Euro Zone Construction Output Drops

Construction output was down 0.3% from a month ago in July, following a 0.6% drop in June, Eurostat reported today.

On a yearly basis, production slumped 4.7% in July compared to the 2.8% drop in June.

Seasonally adjusted construction production in the EU27 fell 0.2% in July compared with the 1.4% fall in June.

Annually, construction production dropped 6.1% in the EU27 in July.

French Leading Index Recovers

The leading economic index for France increased 0.3% in July from the previous month to 113.3 in July, data from a survey by the Conference Board showed today. This follows a decline of 0.3% in June.

The coincident economic index climbed 0.1% from a month ago to 104.4 in July.

Swiss Sentiment Declines

Economic expectations for Switzerland have declined slightly by 1.6 points in September and hovers at the minus 34.9 points mark, data from a survey by the European Economic Research and Credit Suisse showed.

Financial analysts’ assessment of the current economic environment in Switzerland worsened in September. The respective indicator fell 6.4 points to a level of 4.6 points.

The share of analysts regarding the current economic environment as “good” decreased 6.1 percentage points in September.