France: Business confidence steady in March
Business confidence came in at 98 in March, matching February’s result, which had marked the highest reading in eleven months. Consequently, the index remained below the 100-theshold, which represents its long-term average.
With regards to demand, although firms’ personal production expectations weakened from the previous month, their general production expectations improved markedly. Meanwhile, their employment intentions turned less pessimistic in March compared to February. Lastly, however, firms’ perception of new export order books as well as overall order books became more pessimistic from the previous month.