By Mark Deen
Oct. 27 (Bloomberg) -- French consumer confidence climbed in October for a third month as lower energy prices improved disposable income and government support spurred growth.
A gauge of household sentiment rose to minus 35 from minus 36 in September, Paris-based national statistics office Insee said today. Economists expected a reading of 35, a Bloomberg survey showed.
French consumers, helped by tax cuts, state incentives to buy cars and falling oil prices, have boosted the economy this year, lifting France out its deepest recession since World War II. Whether they’ll keep spending as energy prices recover and unemployment rises will be key to Europe’s second-largest economy in the months ahead.
“The behavior of consumers will be crucial” for 2010, said Gilles Moec, an economist at Deutsche Bank AG in London. “Households will have to face the disappearance of the deflation windfall” and a deteriorating labor market.
Consumer prices dropped from last year’s levels in each of the past five months as the price of crude oil fell from the record highs hit in mid-2008.
That effect is diminishing just as joblessness is rising. Jobless claims rose by 21,600 in September to 2.57 million, the Labor and Finance ministries said yesterday.
To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Deen in Paris at markdeen@bloomberg.net
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment