ECONOMIC SENTIMENT INDICATOR : ESI BACK TO LONG-TERM AVERAGE LEVELS.

• Position: Economic Sentiment Indicator - Brief article

Increasingly optimistic, investors are returning to the eurozone's markets, signalling an improved economic climate in the region. The Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI), published on 9 January by the European Commission, increased by 1.6 points in the eurozone to 100.0, reaching its long-term average for the first time since July 2011. The ESI increased by 1.4 points in the EU, to 103.5 points. The main reason for the slightly weaker improvement in sentiment in the Union as a whole was a virtually unchanged confidence level in the largest non-eurozone EU economy, the UK (-0.1).

The significant improvement resulted from rising confidence in three of the five largest economies, namely Spain (+4.0), Italy (+2.3) and the Netherlands (+1.5). This growing confidence, in particular among consumers, managers in services, retail trade and construction, mirrors the regained trust by Madrid, Rome and others like Dublin. Borrowing costs for Spain and Ireland have decreased...