The eurozone’s seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 9.1 per cent in July, down from 10.0 per cent in the same month in 2016. This is the lowest rate recorded in the currency union since February 2009, according to figures published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

In the wider 28-member European Union, the unemployment rate was 7.7 per cent in July, down from 8.5 per cent during the same month last year. This remains the lowest rate recorded in the region since December 2008. When compared to the previous month, both the eurozone and EU unemployment rates remained stable.

In the meantime, UK house price inflation eased during August as slower real wage growth put more pressure on household finances amid weak economic growth, a survey by Nationwide Building Society showed. House prices rose by an annual 2.1 per cent during August, slower than the 2.9 per cent growth seen in July. A similar pace of slower expansion was last seen in May. On a monthly basis, prices fell 0.1 per cent to an average of £210,495 ($270,000). The slowdown in house price growth to the two to three per cent range in recent months from the four to five per cent prevailing in 2016 is consistent with signs of cooling in the housing market and the wider economy, said Nationwide’s chief economist Robert Gardner.

Finally, in the United States, consumer confidence in the economy unexpectedly strengthened in August to the highest level in five months, underpinned by optimism about current business conditions, a survey conducted by the Conference Board showed. The Board said that its Consumer Confidence Index rose to a reading of 122.9 in August from a downwardly adjusted 120.0 in July. The July figure was originally reported at 121.1. Economists had forecast a reading of 120.3.

A pickup in consumer confidence to the second-highest level since late 2000 provides a basis for steady gains in spending. “Consumers’ more buoyant assessment of present-day conditions was the primary driver of the boost in confidence,” Lynn Franco, Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board, said in a statement.

This report was compiled by Bank of Valletta for general information purposes only.