Italy: Business confidence rebounds in July

The National Institute of Statistics’ (Istat) composite business confidence indicator (IESE, Istat Economic Sentiment Indicator), which covers the manufacturing, construction, service and retail sectors, rose from 101.2 in June to 103.3 in July.

All four categories of the indicator increased compared to the previous month. In particular, the construction sector recorded the highest reading since July 2008, and the retail sector returned to positive territory.

Panelists expect fixed investment to increase 1.6% in 2016, which is down 0.6 percentage points from last month’s forecast. For 2017, panelists see fixed investment growing 1.4%.