Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on April 22, 2025
1 min readLast updated: January 24, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleEuro zone firms saw improved business momentum before April tariffs, reflecting industrial recovery, says ECB survey.
FRANKFURT (Reuters) -Euro zone firms were reporting improved business momentum in the weeks leading up to the Trump administration's early April tariff announcement, mainly reflecting an incipient recovery in the industrial sector, an ECB survey showed on Tuesday.
Businesses said that while uncertainty remained high, there were signs of recovering demand for machinery and equipment, and also signals that construction activity was turning a corner, a survey of 79 leading non-financial companies showed.
The outlook has likely darkened since then as firms were asked between March 26 and April 2, before the financial market turmoil set off by the U.S. tariff announcements.
Last week the European Central Bank warned that downside risks to economic growth have increased significantly and that the trade war will lower economic growth.
Still, in the weeks before the turmoil, firms said even the employment outlook was improving slightly, even if most of their focus was on efficiency and not hiring more workers.
Until the end of March, firms also said they were taking a wait-and-see stance about tariffs and were not yet reassessing major investments, the ECB added.
(Reporting by Balazs Koranyi; Editing by Jan Harvey)
The article discusses the improved business momentum in the Euro zone before the announcement of tariffs by the Trump administration.
Firms reported a slightly improving employment outlook, focusing on efficiency rather than hiring.
The outlook darkened post-tariff announcements, with increased downside risks to economic growth.
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