Euro-area confidence hits highest in decade as ECB debates QE exit

Madrid

EURO-AREA economic confidence jumped to the highest level in a decade as the European Central Bank (ECB) edged towards unwinding unprecedented stimulus.

An index of executive and consumer sentiment rose to 111.1 in June from 109.2 in May, the European Commission in Brussels said Thursday. The reading is the strongest since August 2007 and compares with a median estimate of 109.5 in a Bloomberg survey of economists.