27 March 2014
2014- n° 69In March 2014, households’ confidence rose by 3 points Monthly consumer confidence survey - March 2014
In March 2014, households’ confidence increased. The synthetic confidence index gained 3 points compared to February, and got back to its July 2012 level.
In March 2014, households’ confidence increased. The synthetic confidence index gained 3 points compared to February, and got back to its July 2012 level.
Personal situation
Past and future financial situation : increasing slightly
In March, households’ opinion of their past financial situation increased by 2 points, after a 3 points increase in February. Their appreciation of their future financial situation increased also by 2 points, and so did the share of households to consider it was a suitable time to make major purchases. These three balances remained clearly below their long term average.
Savings: expectations increasing
In March, households’ opinion of their current saving capacity climbed significantly (+6 points), after a 4 points decrease in February. Similarly, their opinion of their future saving capacity took off (+9 points), after a decrease in February (-6 points). These two balances remained above their long term average.
In March, Households thinking it was an opportune time to save were slighly less numerous than in February: the corresponding balance dropped by 1 point, after dropping by 2 points the previous month. It remained above its long term average.
graphiquegraph1_english – Consumer synthetic index
tableauTab_eng – CONSUMER OPINION: synthetic index and opinion balances
| 2014 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Av. (1) | Dec. | Jan. | Feb. | March | |
| Synthetic index (2) | 100 | 85 | 86 | 85 | 88 |
| Financial sit., past 12 m. | –19 | –34 | –35 | –32 | –30 |
| Financial sit., next 12 m. | –4 | –20 | –17 | –19 | –17 |
| Current saving capacity | 8 | 11 | 14 | 10 | 16 |
| Expected saving capacity | –10 | –5 | –1 | –7 | 2 |
| Savings intentions, next 12 m. | 18 | 18 | 23 | 21 | 20 |
| Major purchases intentions, next 12 m. | –14 | –29 | –28 | –28 | –26 |
| General economic sit., past 12 m. | –43 | –73 | –71 | –72 | –69 |
| General economic sit., next 12 m. | –23 | –49 | –46 | –51 | –47 |
| Unemployment, next 12 m. | 32 | 49 | 53 | 55 | 53 |
| Consumer prices, past 12 m. | –13 | –7 | –13 | –20 | –25 |
| Consumer prices, next 12 m. | –34 | –17 | –16 | –24 | –30 |
- (1) Average value between January 1987 and December 2013
- (2) This indicator is normalised in such a way that its average equals 100 and standard error equals 10 over the estimation period (1987-2013).
Economic situation in France
General economic situation in France: increasing
After a drop in February (-5 points), households’ opinion of the future general economic situation in France increased in March (+4 points). Their appreciation of the past general economic situation also rose (+3 points). These two balances remained distinctly below their long term average.
Future unemployment: fears falling once again
Households were less concerned in March regarding future employment after 2 months of rise (+6 points). The corresponding balance lost 2 points. It still stood widely above its long term average.
Inflation’s appreciation: significantly decreasing
In March, the share of households to think prices went up continued to fall (–5 points), and consequently fell by 27 points since September 2013. The corresponding balance was the lowest one since September 2009 and thus went beyond its long term average for 2 months. Households’ expectations concerning inflation similarly slipped, the corresponding balance decreasing by 6 points after a 8 points decrease the previous month. However, it remained slightly above its long term average.
graphiquegraph2_english – Balances on personnal financial situation and general economic situation
graphiquechomage_en – Households' unemployment expectations
graphiqueprix_en – Households' perception of prices
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