The economic confidence in the euro zone sank to a two-year low

The economic sentiment indicator in the euro zone, which has been on a downward path since mid-2007, stood at 100.1 in February, down by 1.6 points from that in January.

 The surveys are conducted in
different sectors of the economy, namely industry, services,
construction and retail trade as well as consumers. The decrease in
the BCI was mainly due to a worsening of industry managers'
production expectations for the months ahead. Managers' assessments
of their total order books and export order books also declined
slightly, while their views of the stocks of finished products and
production trend observed in recent months remained unchanged. The
commission said the indicator was still at a fairly high level, which
suggested steady economic activity in the industry sector in the
first months of this year, despite the deceleration in industrial
production growth registered at the end of 2007.