Saturday 29 March 2014

US consumer spending rises, eurozone confidence improves

The US economy showed some signs of recovering from a winter slowdown on Friday. Consumer spending rose 0.3 percent in February, up from a 0.2 percent increase in January. Income also rose 0.3 percent last month, the same as in January.

However, another report on Friday showed that the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index fell to 80.0 in March from 81.6 in February.

Meanwhile, the euro area's recovery looks likely to continue. A report from the European Commission on Friday showed that its economic sentiment indicator for the region rose to 102.4 in March, the highest reading since July 2011, from 101.2 in February.

Elsewhere in Europe, the UK confirmed on Friday that its economy grew 0.7 percent in the fourth quarter. However, a high current account deficit and a fall in household income raised concerns over the sustainability of the growth rate.

No comments:

Post a Comment