Eurozone Economic Sentiment Weakens In December

(RTTNews) - Eurozone economic confidence eased more-than-expected in December amid weakening sentiment among retailers and service providers, survey results from the European Commission revealed on Thursday.

The economic sentiment index dropped to 96.7 in December from 97.1 in the previous month. The score was forecast to fall marginally to 97.0.

The industrial sentiment index rose to -9.0 from -9.3 a month ago. Moreover, the score was better than forecast of -9.1.

However, confidence in the service sector slid to 5.6 from 5.8 in November. This was below economists' expectations of 5.9.

Similarly, sentiment among retailers declined to -6.9 from -5.7 in the prior month. In contrast, confidence among contractors improved to -1.3 from -1.6.

At the same time, the consumer sentiment index registered -13.1 in December compared to the initial estimate of -14.6.