The Economic Sentiment Indicator rose from 67.5 to 75.7 in June, which was the largest rise ever recorded. While that sounds impressive, we have to keep in mind that a lot of numbers sound impressive these days and that the indicator is still very far below its February reading of 103.4. The swings in sentiment do confirm our expectations on the large movements in GDP through this Covid-19 recession: a big decline in the first and second quarter dominated by the lockdown, followed by a large jump in output as the economy reopens. Industrial sentiment improved from -27.5 to -21.7 and stands at a higher level than ... (full story)