- Christoph von Reiche, the head of Goldman Sachs Asset Management
Confidence among Eurozone consumers is posed to climb to its highest level in 17 months in August, reinforcing a view that currency bloc's recovery is gaining steam, recovering from its record-long recession. On Friday August 30, the European Commission is likely to show that a gauge of sentiment ticked up to 93.8 from 92.5 in July, according to the majority of economists. Last week, the European Commission already said that its early estimate of consumer confidence in the region that has Euro in circulation, rose to -15.6 in August, compared with -17.4 in the prior month, reaching the highest level since July 2011, and prolonging a streak of positive readings up to nine months. The unemployment probably will not rise further and will stay at 12.1%.
The positive GDP figures as well as improved sentiment and activity in all sectors have boosted European markets, with the Stoxx Europe index soaring 11% in the last two months, while companies across the Europe have raised their business forecasts. Nevertheless, Europe still continues to struggle with the legacy of its sovereign debt crisis, lasting for four years already, including Southern countries, which are still struggling to grow, while the overall jobless rate is projected to hover above 12% through 2015.
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