It was a relatively quiet day for the eurozone on Friday, but we did see the flash estimate of the eurozone’s consumer confidence reading. It had been expected to fall further from the previous month’s -3.9 to -4.3, but it actually dropped further to -6.2. It is the weakest reading since February 2017.
We also saw the German Gfk consumer confidence for January which remained unchanged at 10.4. This was slightly better than the 10.3 the markets had been expecting. However, it is still the lowest reading since June 2017 and is therefore a cause for some concern. Indeed, the euro weakened against sterling and the dollar to end what had been a pretty decent week on a sour note.
Similarly, European stock markets ended the week on a bit of a low, with the Stoxx 600 down by 0.33% – a new two-year closing low. There is nothing on the schedule today and tomorrow is Christmas Day. We hope you have been good and Santa gets you everything you deserve.
