Euro Zone Economy Again In Trouble

Euro zone economic sentiment weakened further in August due to strong loss in confidence among consumers, retailers and construction managers. The economic sentiment index dropped to 86.1 from 87.9 in July. The reading was below consensus forecast of 87.5. Led by deterioration in managers' production expectations and their assessment of the current level of overall order books, industrial confidence slid to -15.3 from -15.1 a month ago. In the construction sector, confidence declined to -33.1 from -28.5 in July. Amid higher unemployment fears and worsened consumer expectations about the future general economic situation, consumer confidence weakened to -24.6 in August from -21.5. Confidence in services fell to -10.8 from -8.5 a month ago.