• Final consumer confidence -20.6 vs -20.6 prelim
• Economic confidence 93.0 vs 95.2 expected (Prior 96.2)
• Industrial confidence -7.7 vs -7.2 expected (Prior -7.0)
• Services confidence 0.9 vs 3.5 expected (Prior 4.1)
• Consumer inflation expectations 49.1 vs 43.5 prior

Well, that’s not a good look as surging energy prices continue to exert heavy pressure on the euro area economic outlook. And by the looks of things, consumers are definitely not feeling optimistic whatsoever about the situation.

Inflation expectations continue to shoot up, underscoring the severity of the mood on the ground. As mentioned before, physical prices for oil and gas are still at extreme levels and that is what translates to pain for consumers and businesses.

The reading above has jumped up to 49.1, marking the highest since April 2022. That was during the Russia-Ukraine conflict, so we’re pretty much seeing a repeat of the kind of nervousness in terms of consumer inflation expectations.

Meanwhile, economic sentiment is also taking a big knock as it falls to 93.0 in April. That is the softest reading since November 2020. Ouch.

The longer this drags on, the more difficult it will be for the euro area economy to stomach this kind of surging price pressure. Given the circumstances, the ECB might be compelled to act just because they feel they have to do something. But up against a supply shock, I’m still not convinced that taking action will do anything to help given their current predicament. From earlier this week: Major central banks are up against a very tough task in navigating monetary policy next