French consumer confidence tumbled lower in the latest month to 82, that being the weakest such reading since March 2023. Since the start of the US-Iran conflict, consumer confidence has fallen by 9 points in the past three months. That marks the steepest decline over the same period since 2022.

The details reveal a further decline across major sub-indices. Of note, the reading on the expected financial situation falls to -20 – also the lowest since March 2023. Then, there was also a steep decline in the reading for opportunity to make major purchases. That fell five points to -40, straying further away from the long-term average of -16.

The only bit of good news is that employment conditions held steadier while the outlook on future inflation also dropped back a little after surging in April. The latter fell back to 2 from 10 last month, but still sits considerably higher from -29 back in February.