Euro Area Zew Economic Sentiment Index

Last Release

Dec 31, 2024

Actual

Units In

N/A

12.5

Frequency

Monthly

Next Release

Jan 21, 2025

Time to Release

1 Months 2 Days 9 Hours

Highest	Lowest	Average	Date Range	Source
89.9 Jan 2000	-63.7 Jul 2008	21.66	1999-2024	Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW)

In the Euro Area, the ZEW Economic Sentiment Index measures the level of optimism that analysts have about the expected economic developments over the next 6 months. The survey covers up to 350 financial and economic analysts. The index is constructed as the difference between the percentage share of analysts that are optimistic and the percentage of analysts that are pessimistic about the development of the economy. Therefore, the ZEW indicator measures the confidence on a scale of -100 (all analysts expect the economy to deteriorate) up to 100 (all analysts expect it to improve). A 0 value indicates neutrality.

Latest Updates

The ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment for the Euro Area rose by 4.5 points to 17 in December 2024, well above market expectations of 12.2. The improvement in sentiment was driven by a more optimistic economic outlook, fueled by early elections in Germany, which heightened expectations of investment-friendly policies, alongside prospects of lower interest rates and stable inflation. In December, about 56.6% of the surveyed analysts expected no changes in economic activity, 30.2% saw an improvement and 13.2% anticipated a deterioration. In the meantime, the indicator of the current economic situation dropped by 11.2 points to -55 and inflation expectations fell by 10.5 points to -23.9.