Eurozone economic confidence rises in February
(BRUSSELS) - Consumer and business confidence in the 17-nation eurozone rose in February, although the key services sector suffered a drop, official data showed on Tuesday.
A confidence index compiled by the European Commission for the eurozone edged up to 94.4 points from 93.4 points in January, the EU executive said.
Across the 27-nation European Union as a whole, confidence of business leaders and consumers gained 1.1 points to an indexed 93.9 according to the data.
A statement said the decrease in confidence in the services sector in February "partly offset the rebound observed in January."
Jonathan Loynes, chief European economist at Capital Economics said the ESI was "still well below the levels seen throughout most of last year and consistent, on past form, with broadly stagnant GDP growth."
Within the eurozone, France logged the biggest jump in confidence, up 1.6 points to Germany's 0.1 points.
Spain's reading dropped by 0.2 points.
Outside the currency area, Poland did best among the larger EU states, rising by 1.7 points.
The United Kingdom rose 0.3 points.