Euro-zone consumers still not ready to spend freely

Despite a slight fall in July, euro-zone consumer confidence remains at a high level. But this hasyet to be reflected in a significant rise in spending growth. This might be because consumers’optimism relates more to the wider economic outlook than to their own finances. Note too that therecent improvement has partly reflected a growing intention to save, which bodes ill for spending.With labour market conditions barely improving and consumer credit weak, we expect the eurozoneconsumer recovery to be relatively modest.