Eurozone economic confidence beats expectations
Eurozone economic sentiment beat expectations but supply problems suggest problems ahead for the currency zone's businesses.
The European Commission's economic confidence index rose to 118.6 in October from 117.8 a month earlier and was just short of a record high of 119. Analysts had on average expected the score to drop to 116.7.
Services confidence increased but consumer confidence weakened and industry sentiment was little changed at its second-highest reading on record.
October's score suggests the eurozone's economy has not faltered significantly at the start of the final quarter of 2021 despite rising energy prices and supply chain holdups. Price expectations rose and employment expectations increased for the third month running.
But the survey also showed industry worried about shortages hitting production. Manufacturers believe current orders will assure production for the next 4.7 months, a slight improvement on 4.6 months in the previous quarter. But over half of manufacturers said materials and equipment shortages were limiting production, up from 43% in the previous quarter.
Melanie Debono, senior Europe economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said: "The survey has not been the best point estimator during the crisis, and the detail shows continued supply struggles among firms in industry, so we still look for a sharp slowdown."