FRANKFURT – Investor morale in the euro zone plunged in March in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and its implications for the global economy, a survey showed on Monday.
Sentix’s index for the euro zone fell to -7.0 in March from 16.6 the previous month, hitting its lowest level since November 2020. A Reuters poll of analysts had pointed to a March reading of 5.3.
An expectations sub-index fell to -20.8 in March from 14.0 in February, the lowest reading in nearly a decade and the biggest drop in the Sentix index’s 20-year history.
A current conditions sub-index, meanwhile, fell to 7.8 in March from 19.3 in February.
Sentix said the euro zone economy was being dramatically hit by the Ukraine crisis, adding that the eastern European region was particularly suffering.
“The U.S. economy is also being hit by the crisis shock, although not quite as hard.”
Sentix surveyed 1,216 investors over March 3-5.
(Reporting by Christoph Steitz; Editing by Pravin Char)