Istat reports that Italy’s consumer confidence index decreased little this month, falling from 105.5 to 105.1. The only component that improved, from 119.0 to 119.8, was the economic situation. The current climate, the future climate, and the personal climate all showed a drop, decreasing to 100.0, 112.6, and 100.1 correspondingly.
The business confidence atmosphere was also indicated by the Istat Economic Sentiment Indicator (IESI), which dropped from 110.4 to 108.7. This suggests that the corporate community has a relatively negative outlook of the economy.
Manufacturing confidence also followed the general trend, dropping from 102.8 to 101.4. The corresponding balances changed from 6.1 to 4.3 and from -8.6 to show that both production expectations and order book evaluations showed a reduction. to -10.6, respectively. A minor increase was noted in the inventory volume, with its balance moving from 4.3 to 4.6.
Retail trade’s confidence index marginally dropped from 112.9 to 111.6. Firms expressed concerns about both current and future business trends. The balance of assessments on current sales dropped from 29.5 to 27.1, and expectations on future volume of sales slid from 23.2 to 22.8. Meanwhile, inventories increased, with the related balance varying from 6.2 to 7.2.
