Consumer sentiment was down in February after steady growth over the preceding months. The IIB Bank/ESRI index recorded a figure of 82 last month, from 85.7 in January. On a yearly basis, sentiment is still far ahead of February 2003's level of 62.3, however. According to reports, last month's decline was caused entirely by a drop in consumers' perceptions of their current financial situation, rather than any concerns over the future, a trend which some analysts say is normal at this time of year, following the January sales. In the expectations sub-index, a slight rise was actually experienced, up from 76.3 in January to 77.2 in February. Further detail: http://www.esri.ie/

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