Across all regions, the headline GMI measure – which takes into account marketers’ expectations for trading conditions and staffing levels as well as marketing budgets – recorded an index reading of 57.1 in March, a fall of 0.9 points from February (a reading of 50 indicates neutral sentiment).

A slowdown in budget expectations was the major contributing factor to an overall drop in the headline GMI for Europe, down 2.1 points to 57.0. The Americas’ headline index also declined from 59.0 in February to 57.5 in March. Conversely, confidence in Asia Pacific grew slightly (+0.2 points) from February to 57.4.