Consumer confidence in Europe up a touch

BRUSSELS, Nov. 27 (UPI) -- The European Commission's Economic and Financial Affairs Office said consumer confidence is up in Europe, but still below historic standards.

The Economic Sentiment Indicator for November rose to 87.9 in the European Union, a gain of 1.9 points, and rose to 88.8, a gain of 2.7 points in the euro area, the office said Friday.

The indicator for the EU and in the countries that use the euro as their currency has risen for eight consecutive months.

Historically, however, the figure is low. The indicator assigns an historic average -- in this case the years 1990-2008 -- a value of 100.