Eurozone Investor Confidence Falls, German Consumers Turn Pessimistic

Consumer confidence in Germany fell sharply in October, with households expecting higher prices and lower disposable income and showing less willingness to spend ahead of the Christmas season. Separately, eurozone investor sentiment declined, as the Sentix index fell to 2.7 from 5.1 in September; current conditions were unchanged, but expectations weakened significantly. Sentix said Germany’s current economic assessment improved for a fourth consecutive month, while concern is increasingly shifting to France amid rising government bond yields. Together, the surveys point to fragile confidence in a sustained economic recovery, despite some improvement in assessments of current conditions.