Pursuits

Euro-Area Confidence Drops, German Jobless Increases: Economy

Lock
This article is for subscribers only.

Economic confidence in the euro area fell more than economists forecast in August as leaders struggled to rein in the sovereign debt crisis and the region’s slump deepened.

An index of executive and consumer sentiment in the 17-nation euro area dropped to 86.1 from 87.9 in July, the European Commission in Brussels said today. That’s the lowest since August 2009. Economists had forecast a decline to 87.5, the median of 26 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey showed. In Germany, jobless claims rose for a fifth month in August.