Consumer sentiment slumped in October on sharply increased concerns about the potential impact on household finances and jobs of a renewed surge in Covid-19 cases and the prospect of related restrictions on economic activity. | The KBC Bank Ireland consumer sentiment index fell to 52.6 in October from 60.7 in September and now stands at the lowest level since May. | Barclays has today reported stronger than expected third-quarter results thanks to a return to profit for the bank's consumer businesses and chief executive Jes Staley said he aimed to stay on for two more years. | There has been speculation over Staley's future since Barclays disclosed in February that UK regulators had launched an investigation into Staley's past connections to the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. That investigation has yet to conclude. | Just Eat is recruiting 700 additional couriers, to meet growing consumer demand for takeaway food arising from the additional Level 5 restrictions. The additional delivery workers will service expanded delivery areas in urban locations. | Euro zone economic activity slipped back into decline this month as a second wave of the coronavirus sweeps across the continent, heightening expectations for a double-dip recession, surveys showed today. Nearly 90% of economists polled by Reuters this week said there was a high risk the coronavirus resurgence would halt the nascent euro zone economic recovery. IHS Markit's Flash Composite Purchasing Managers' Index, seen as a good gauge of economic health, fell to 49.4 from September's final reading of 50.4. That was below the 50-mark separating growth from contraction and only fractionally better than the 49.3 predicted in a Reuters poll. That headline PMI was dragged down by the service industry's PMI, which sank more than expected to 46.2 from 48.    |||