Eurozone: improvements in the job market sends consumer confidence to the highest since 2015 - ING

Bert Colijn, Senior Economist at ING, points out that Eurozone consumer confidence continues its streak of optimism in 2017 as job markets improvements offset political concerns. 

Key Quotes: 

“Eurozone consumer confidence increased from -5.1 to -4.9 in January, the highest level since April 2015. Improvements in the job market seem to be outweighing concerns about political volatility among consumers for the moment.”

“Expectations of unemployment have declined significantly over recent months and expectations of the financial situation of households have improved. While 2017 could be a year full of political risk, consumers have started it full of confidence. This is a positive sign for domestic demand growth in the first quarter, which is why we expect consumer spending to accelerate in 1Q17.”

“Consumers do seem to be defying some of the more negative factors influencing confidence. Besides continued high political risk, this month gasoline prices reached the highest level since August 2015, which shows that the oil price recovery continues to work through to the headline inflation numbers in January.”