France: Business confidence decreases and is neutral in May
Business confidence fell to 100.0 in May from April’s 102.2. May’s result marked the weakest sentiment since April 2021. Despite the downtick, the index fell on the neutral 100-threshold, which separates optimism from pessimism among businesses.
The decline in the headline print reflected a broad-based deterioration in business sentiment: It worsened across manufacturing, building construction, retail trade, wholesale trade and the services sector. Moreover, the employment climate also softened over the month.