Eurozone economic figures due out this week will show confidence declining further - or at best stagnating - following the deterioration of sentiment indicators posted by member states, economists said. "The continued deterioration in business sentiment in many euro area member states should weigh further on the European Commission's measures of business confidence for May," Credit Suisse First Boston economists said of the commission's survey, due for release on Tuesday.
HSBC economists said: "Business confidence has been falling since last October, and we expect a further decline in May."
They noted that consumer confidence had been steady since September.
Royal Bank of Scotland economists agreed, saying: "We project business and economic sentiment to have declined further in May, in line with the weaker survey evidence already seen from the business and consumer sectors in Germany, Italy and Belgium."
Equally, French consumer confidence data also due to be published Tuesday is expected to show no upturn in May.
The eurozone purchasing managers index reports for both the manufacturing and services sectors in May, to be published on Wednesday and Friday, respectively, are expected to be just as lacklustre. Among other key data, the provisional estimate for eurozone inflation in May due on Tuesday was expected to show a slight easing of price pressures.
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