Jim Power

Consumer confidence, very weak in the UK, fell to minus 25 in April, which is the lowest since October 2023.

And that's a trend that's actually coming across everywhere, as I'll demonstrate.

On the purchasing managers' indices side, in the UK, the composite index actually jumped from 50.3% to 52%.

with services particularly up from 50.2 to 52 and manufacturing up from 51 to 53.6.

And there definitely is an element of stockpiling happening there and production being ramped up.

But anyway, in the context of what's happening in the UK, the negative impact of the war is not yet being fully felt.

But no surprises whatsoever about the area that's been most badly hit by this.

It's the Eurozone.

The composite index fell from 50.7%, which is above the 50 mark, which marks expansion.

It fell from 50.7% to 48.6%.

Services part of it fell from 50.2 to 47.4.

That's the lowest since February 2021.

Manufacturing increased slightly, and that's the stockpiling thing that we saw in the UK.

Consumer confidence collapsed to minus 20.6 from minus 16.4.

That's the lowest consumer confidence reading since December 2022.

So and then today, Wednesday, sorry, today's Tuesday.

My God, I was at the food festival in Dungarvan at the weekend and I haven't fully recovered from that yet.

The ECB's bank lending survey was published today.

A sharp decline in business and household demand for loans and demand for residential mortgages fell to a level which is consistent with construction and housing investment falling.

Banks are tightening lending standards.