Munster Express Online

Irish consumer sentiment remained broadly unchanged in November, following a sharp improvement in October.

The KBC Ireland/ESRI Consumer Sentiment Index dropped fractionally to 53.6 from 54.2 but a marginal movement such as this effectively means that confidence among Irish consumers held steady last month.

The underlying trend, as evident in the three month moving average which rose from 50.8 to 52.5, continues to show a clear, if modest, improvement in sentiment in recent months.

The Irish consumer sentiment data have to be seen in the context of disappointing readings from similar indicators in a number of other countries.

In the US, the comparable measure dropped for a second consecutive month as consumers there fretted that a fragile economic recovery was unlikely to markedly improve their employment or income prospects.

Similarly, German consumer confidence dropped for the second month in a row to confirm a clear break in what had been an improving trend evident since September 2008.

In the UK, there was as a surprisingly large and broadly based drop in consumer confidence in November – this was the first monthly decline since January.

However, confidence improved among the consumers of Italy and France. So, the aggregate figure for the European Union remained broadly unchanged.
See The Munster Express newspaper for full story.