Euro area consumer confidence dips in July
Consumer confidence in the single currency bloc slipped a tad, the European Union's executive arm said.
The European Commission's preliminary consumer confidence index dipped by -0.4 points in July to a reading of -1.7.
That was worse than the reading of -1.1 which economists had forecast.
Claus Vistesen, chief euro area economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, highlighted how July's retreat marked the first fall in consumer confidence since February.
Yet at least in the near-term that did not alter the key message from the survey, consumer spending was continuing to grow "robustly", he added.
"We think the headline index will dip further in Q3, in line with weakness in other survey data following big gains in the first half of the year. That said, it won’t change the key message from this survey of robust growth in consumers’ spending, at least not in the near term."