Eurozone investor confidence index improves but remains weak

Investor confidence in the eurozone rose to a seven-month high in December but remained firmly in negative territory, according to closely watched monthly survey of financial analysts and institutional investors.

The Sentix Investor Confidence Index, which surveys market opinion about the current economic situation and future expectations, rose to -16.8, from -18.6 in November.

This came in below the -14.4 expected by analysts, but was still the highest reading since May.

Nevertheless, this was the 22nd straight reading of negative investor confidence, which hasn't been above the zero mark since February 2022, according to Sentix.

The current situation index increased to -23.5 from -26.8, while the expectations index rose to -9.8 from -10.

The expectations index has now risen for the third straight month, but Sentix highlighted that momentum was "still weak".

"Overall, today's release underscores recent developments in high-frequency indicators which are bottoming-out but don't provide much hope for a speedy recovery. We expect Q4 to result in stagnation or small contraction for the eurozone economy," said economist Alexander Valentin from Oxford Economics.