Italy: Business sentiment broadly unchanged in October
The National Institute of Statistics (Istat)’s composite business confidence indicator (Clima di Fiducia delle Imprese Italiane, IESE)—which covers the manufacturing, construction, market services and retail sectors—rose to 99.0 in October from September’s 98.6.
October’s reading came on the back of higher confidence in the manufacturing, market services and retail trade sectors, which more than offset weaker sentiment in the construction sector. Confidence in the manufacturing sector increased on stronger assessments of order books and expectations on production levels. Moreover, sentiment in retail trade get rosier due to higher expectations of future sales. Additionally, confidence in the market services sector edged up, as assessments of order books and the business trend went up. On the flip side, confidence in the construction sector lost some ground, on worsened assessments regarding current order books and employment.