Euro area consumer confidence ticks higher in August
Consumer confidence in the euro area ticked higher in August, according to the European Union's executive arm.
The European Commission's consumer confidence index rose from -1.7 in July to -1.5 for August, a preliminary reading showed.
In the EU as a whole it was unchanged at -2.3.
Following the data, Stephen Brown at Capital Economics said: "The confidence index is close to a historical high and consistent with annual household spending growth picking up from 1.6% in Q1 to around 2.5%. But while the general economic outlook is bright and the labour market should continue to recover, it seems unlikely that consumer confidence will rise much from here. After all, inflation has picked up this year, but wage growth remains subdued and so real income growth has slowed."
Brown's forecasts called for the annual rate of consumer spending growth to ease from a 2.0% pace in 2016 to 1.5% in 2017.