FX.co ★ France Consumer Confidence Weakens To 90

France witnessed an unexpected dip in consumer confidence in April, as reported by the country's statistics bureau, INSEE, this past Friday.

Contrary to economist predictions which forecasted an incline to 92, the consumer sentiment index fell from 91 in March to 90 in April. The index continues to remain significantly lower than its long-term average of 100.

Consumer perspectives regarding their personal financial situation declined in April, moving from -9 in the previous month to -12. On the other hand, the circumstances concerning past financial situations of households saw a marginal improvement, escalating from -27 to -26.

Despite this, there was a mild rebound in April regarding households' beliefs about it being an opportune time to make significant purchases. The corresponding index advanced slightly, moving up by a single point to -33.

However, consumers displayed increasing pessimism towards the future state of the economy. This sentiment, reflected in the relevant index, dropped from -42 to -48. Yet, the indicator associated with past financial situations mildly improved, moving from -75 to -73.

Interestingly, in April, households showed a growing sense of optimism concerning their future capacity to save, with the relevant index moving up from 7 to 12.

In positive developments, anxiety about unemployment amongst consumers dropped marginally, with the corresponding index declining from 22 in March to 21 in April.

Lastly, the share of households predicting a rise in prices for the following twelve months fell from -50 to -51. The measure reflecting past consumer prices saw a drop from 44 to 36.