According to the advance estimate, European Commission’s consumer confidence weakened further in November, already for a fifth consecutive month, bringing the index back to its lowest level since August 2008. The worsening in sentiment was however somewhat softer than expected. The headline index fell from -19.9 to -20.4, while the consensus was looking for a decline to -21.0. Details are not yet available. Overall however we believe that consumer confidence in the euro area remains reasonably strong as the index is still significantly above the lows (-34.2) reached in 2009. A further decline is however not excluded as severe austerity measures are weighing on consumers budgets, the economic climate is weakening with increasing signs of a new recession, the labour market situation is deteriorating and the debt crisis continues to spread.