Euro zone economic sentiment eases in Jan

Euro zone economic sentiment deteriorated in January, data showed on Friday, pulled down by a more downbeat sentiment in the two key sectors of industry and services.

The European Commission’s monthly economic sentiment index fell to 112.7 points in January from a revised 113.8 in December. Economists polled by Reuters had expected a reading of 114.5 points.

The decline of the overall index was mainly a result of less optimism in industry, where the index eased to 13.9 from 14.6 and in services, where it fell to 9.1 from 10.9.

Selling price expectations in industry also eased to 47.7 from of 48.0 in December though among consumers inflation expectations 12 months ahead rose to 38.4 from 36.6 in December.