BRUSSELS - European consumer confidence fell to the lowest level in more than five years this month and inflation slowed for the first time since June, adding to pressure on the European Central Bank to pare interest rates next week.
A European Commission survey of 25,000 consumers in the dozen nations sharing the euro fell to minus 14 from October's minus 12. A separate survey of the same number of companies showed that they expect to pare jobs. The inflation rate fell to 2.2 percent from 2.3 percent the previous month.
Europe's economy will grow this year at the slowest pace in nearly a decade, according to the commission. That spurred companies such as Siemens AG and Fiat SpA to trim jobs. ECB officials have signaled that they're ready to help by cutting rates as inflation slows.
"At work, they've said we are 1,500 people too many, and that's scary," said Aysel Celik, 24, who works for the Belgian subsidiary of Europe's second-largest insurer, Axa SA. "I'm being more careful about spending. You never know what tomorrow will bring."
ECB policy-makers next meet Dec. 5.
"If we don't see any negative aspects for the price development in the midterm, we possibly could take an interest-rate step to improve the general climate," ECB council member Ernst Welteke told the German newspaper Handelsblatt in an interview.
Job losses at companies such as Siemens, Germany's largest electronics and engineering company, may dampen consumer spending, which accounts for about half the European economy.
The commission expects the unemployment rate in the 12 nations using the euro to rise to 8.3 percent next year from 8.2 percent.
"People don't feel like buying," said Christine Vermeersch, chief financial officer of Brantano Group NV, Belgium's largest shoe retailer. The company said profit fell 31 percent in the third quarter.
"They're more price-conscious and saving money," Vermeersch said of those shopping for shoes.
The ECB, which aims to limit price rises to 2 percent, has denied Europe's economy a boost for the past year, keeping its benchmark rate unchanged at 3.25 percent since last November.
"Consumer confidence is falling off a cliff," Ken Wattret, an economist at BNP Paribas SA, said in a research note.
"That must be worrying for the ECB and supports our belief that they'll grasp the nettle and cut by 50 basis points on Dec. 5."