Just another item to add to the list of bad news:
European business confidence dropped to a 21-month low in May and consumers were the most pessimistic in a year as oil prices around $50 a barrel and unemployment near a five-year high dimmed the outlook for economic growth.
An index gauging confidence among 35,000 executives in the dozen euro nations fell to minus 11 from April’s minus 9, the European Commission said today in Brussels. Economists expected minus 10, the median of 29 forecasts showed. An index of consumer sentiment dropped to minus 15 from minus 13, the commission said.
Feed: A Fistful of Euros