Eurozone business confidence beat expectations in February, adding to the evidence that companies in the 17-country monetary union are getting back on their feet and that the bloc will return to economic growth in 2013.
The European Commission’s economic sentiment indicator in February rose for the fourth consecutive month to 91.1 from 89.2 in January, driven by managers’ bullish forecasts for business activity. Industry confidence increased by 2.6 points, while sentiment in the services sector rose by 2.3 points.
The Commission said on Wednesday that industry confidence was “continuing the broad upward trend observed since November . . . fuelled by a much more positive assessment of production expectations and the current level of overall order books”.