
Euro zone investor morale hits three-year record as recovery broadens
The Sentix index for the euro zone rose to 4.5 from 0.2 in June, beating the 1.1 forecast from analysts polled by Reuters and marking its third consecutive monthly increase.
The current situation sub-index improved notably but remained in negative territory, rising by 5.8 points to -7.3, while expectations climbed 2.8 points to 17.0, also marking a third straight rise.
The survey of investors, conducted between July 4-6, showed the recovery was broad-based across regions, with the United States economy making particularly strong gains after lagging in previous months.
Germany, Europe's largest economy, also showed continued improvement with its overall index reaching -0.4, its highest since February 2022, as the current situation rose for a fifth straight month.
The survey indicated the European Central Bank's room for further interest rate cuts may narrow as the economic upturn strengthens, though inflation pressures remain contained for now.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Independent
19 minutes ago
- The Independent
UK bank hit with huge fine for ‘anti-financial crime' failures
Digital bank Monzo has been fined over £21 million by the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for significant anti-fraud failures. The FCA found that Monzo allowed customers to open accounts using "obviously implausible UK addresses" such as Buckingham Palace and 10 Downing Street. These shortcomings in Monzo's anti-financial crime measures date back to between October 2018 and August 2020. Monzo also breached a regulatory requirement by failing to prevent the onboarding of over 34,000 high-risk customers between August 2020 and June 2022. The FCA stated that Monzo's financial fraud systems and controls "failed to keep pace" with its rapid customer growth, though Monzo claims "substantial improvements" have since been made.


The Independent
29 minutes ago
- The Independent
Maternity fashion brand blames rising costs for collapse
Maternity fashion brand Seraphine has entered administration, resulting in the redundancy of the majority of its 95 staff. The company, whose clothes were famously worn by the Princess of Wales, appointed Interpath as administrators on Monday. Seraphine struggled with escalating costs and a challenging consumer spending climate, which proved too difficult to overcome. Despite actively seeking a buyer, the firm was unsuccessful in securing a sale before its collapse. The brand had a stock market flotation in 2021 with a £150 million valuation but was taken private for £15.3 million two years later.


BBC News
29 minutes ago
- BBC News
Post Office scandal had 'disastrous' impact on victims, report says
The Post Office Horizon IT scandal had a "disastrous" impact on those wrongly accused and prosecuted for criminal offences, the first report from the official inquiry into the scandal has Wyn Williams' report has revealed the scale of the suffering caused to hundreds of sub-postmasters wrongly prosecuted over shortfalls in their branch accounts, as well as others Wyn said at least 59 people contemplated suicide at various points, of whom 10 attempted to take their own lives, and more than 13 people may have killed themselves due to the Post Office apologised "unreservedly" and said it would carefully consider the report. This first volume of Sir Wyn's report focuses on the human impact of the scandal, as well as issues around had divorced, suffered serious mental health issues and alcohol addiction as a result of their ordeals, the inquiry found."A number of persons said they could not sleep at night without drinking first. One postmistress said she 'went to rehab for eight months as the Post Office had turned her to drink to cope with the losses,'" Sir Wyn wrote. The report makes a series of urgent recommendations, including:free legal advice for claimantscompensation payments for close family members of those affecteda programme of restorative justice with Fujitsu, the Post Office and the government meeting individual victims directlySir Wyn also criticised the "formidable difficulties" around the delivery of financial redress for victims, which is currently organised around four different one scheme, for those who experienced unexplained shortfalls related to Horizon but were not convicted, Sir Wyn says: "I am persuaded that in difficult and substantial claims, on too many occasions, the Post Office and its advisors have adopted an unnecessarily adversarial attitude towards making initial offers."According to the report, 10,000 eligible people are currently claiming redress, and Sir Wyn expects that number to rise by "at least hundreds" over the coming called on the government to publicly define what is meant by "full and fair financial redress" and recommended changes to some of the Sir Wyn will look at how the scandal happened and who was responsible in a later report, in this first part, he said that he was satisfied that some employees of the Post Office and Fujitsu were aware, or should have been aware, that the Horizon software had "bugs, errors and defects" which could affect branch Wyn has asked the government to respond to his findings no later than October 2025. The government said that some members of Horizon victim's families will be eligible for Office minister Gareth Thomas said the scheme would be open "to close family members of existing Horizon claimants who themselves suffered personal injury – including psychological distress – because of their relative's suffering".But he added that the government would need written evidence of that injury made at the time "other than in exceptional circumstances".He said devising such a scheme "raises some very difficult issues"."Nonetheless, we want to look after those family members who suffered most," he said. A Post Office spokesperson said: "The Inquiry has brought to life the devastating stories of those impacted by the Horizon Scandal. Their experiences represent a shameful period in our history. "Today, we apologise unreservedly for the suffering which Post Office caused to postmasters and their loved ones. We will carefully consider the report and its recommendations." The report also gave details of the some of the legal costs of the various compensation schemes so published government figures show the total legal costs paid for the "operational delivery of Horizon redress schemes" have risen to £ their work on the Horizon Shortfall Scheme up to 2 December 2024, law firm Herbert Smith Freehills were paid £67m by the Post Office. Post Office campaigner and former sub-postmaster Jo Hamilton said it was "just mad" that the government is "spending millions on lawyers to pull the claims apart" that they have paid for to be said the report out on Tuesday was "huge" because it laid bare the scale of the investigations into who is culpable for that suffering will be "interesting", she adds.