In June, European Commission’s economic confidence improved to 73.3, while the consensus expected an outcome of 71.0. Also the previous figure was upwardly revised from 69.3 to 70.2. Looking at the details, business (-32 from -33), consumer (-25 from -28) and services (-20 from -23) confidence rose, while retail confidence (- 16 from -14) deteriorated and construction confidence stayed unchanged at -34 in June. The business climate indicator rose from -3.11 to -2.97. Nevertheless, the data only confirm the improvement in the other confidence indicators and therefore contain not much new information.
Other: UK bank lending remains tight in May
In May, the final figure of M4 money supply confirmed the first outcome of 0.2% M/M, which was well below market expectations. UK mortgage approvals came out at 43 400, slightly above the April figure of 43 200, but significantly below the consensus estimate of 46 000. Net lending secured on dwellings was just 0.3B, while an outcome of 1.0B was forecasted, the worst performance since records started in 1993. Net consumer credit came out at 0.3B, which was in line with expectations. The data indicate that money is not yet feeding through to private companies and households, but the Bank of England said it could take six to nine months for the full effects of the policy to come through.
