Consumer confidence held up in May in Europe despite recession and the prospect of further heavy job losses in the region, French and Italian surveys showed today, on the heels of similar reports from Germany and elsewhere.
Some economists believe low inflation could help to preserve purchasing power and limit the damage to consumer demand from a downturn the European Commission says may wipe out 9.5 million jobs this year and next in the 27-country European Union.
French consumer confidence rose in May, to a level of -40 from an unrevised -41 in April, on an index published by the national statistics office, INSEE.
Italian consumer confidence held steady at the highest level since December 2007, registering 104.9 on an index compiled by research institute ISAE.
That followed similar news from many other countries in the region and the United States on Tuesday, where consumer morale hit an eight-month high after the biggest one-month jump in a survey conducted by the Conference Board, a private-sector outfit whose index hit 54.9 after 40.8 in April.
German consumer sentiment, where market research group GfK measures confidence in terms of how people felt about the month ahead, held steady heading into June compared to May, showing a reading of 2.5, as in the previous month's GfK survey.
Germany, France and Italy together account for more than two-thirds of the economy of the euro zone.
Dutch consumer confidence improved in May as well, according to survey results published last week by the national statistics office there, moving up to -23 from -28 in April.
Beyond the euro currency group, Swedish consumer confidence came in well above forecast in May, rising to -11 points in May from - 21 a month earlier, the National Institute of Economic Research (NIER) said.
Finnish consumer confidence rose too, to 7.2 points in May from 1.0 points in April on an index published by Statistics Finland (SF).
Consumer spending reports for May are not available yet.
Spain, particularly hard-hit by the end of a housing and construction boom, released data on Wednesday which showed that retail sales fell for a 17th month in April, although the pace of decline eased for a second month running.
The year-on-year fall of 7.5 per cent in April, published by the statistics office, compared to a drop of 8.2 per cent in March and 9.1 per cent in February.
Reuters