European Consumer Confidence Improves Despite Increased Fears of a Recession

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• GBPUSD – The U.K.’s CBI sales index held steady at -27 for the second consecutive month in October, indicating that private-sector spending may remain subdued for the rest of the year as Europe’s second largest economy slips into a recession. A breakdown of the report showed that volume of sales increased to -33 from -36 in September, while orders ticked higher to -36 from -39. Despite the minor improvement, the CBI survey tends to be highly volatile, and this data should be taken with a grain of salt. Discuss the topic and your trade ideas in the GBP/USD Forum.

• EURUSD – The GfK consumer confidence index for Germany unexpectedly improved to 1.9 from 1.8 in October despite expectations for a lower reading of 1.5. Meanwhile, the breakdown of the report, which is only available until October, showed that the economic outlook among consumers plunged to -27.5 from -15.7, while the reading for the willingness to buy slipped to -18.2 from -12.8. Despite the dour outlook among consumers, income expectations increased for the third consecutive month to -12.9 from -14.1. The data suggests that falling oil prices are helping consumers to deal with the downturn in the global economy, but as Europe’s largest economy teeters on the brink of a recession, conditions may only get worse in the near-term. Discuss the topic and your trade ideas in the EUR/USD Forum.

• USDCHF – The UBS consumption indicator for Switzerland rose for the first time in three months as the index increased to 1.669 from a revised reading of 1.581 in August. The data suggests that consumer spending is holding up fairly well despite the slowdown in the global economy, but conditions may get worse over the coming months as economists expect the economy to contract in the third quarter. For more news and resources, visit the new Swiss franc Currency Room.

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