Treading Water

Consumer confidence in March is a case of 'no news is good news'. The indicator has remained broadly unchanged since the start of the year - gloomy but not depressed. Most of the gloom relates to the wider economy rather than to personal circumstances - which will minimise the (potentially negative) impact on consumer spending.

Not so construction confidence: which has seen employment expectations and price expectations plunge to unprecedented levels (-55 and a staggering -70 respectively); by far the gloomiest of all EU 27 countries. It looks like the fall in Irish house prices has some way to go yet (which might cheer some consumers up who happen to be buying rather than selling).