Italy: Consumers grow a bit more confident in December
The consumer confidence index released by the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) rose to 110.8 in December from November’s 108.6, which had marked the worst reading since July 2017.
December’s increase came on the back of a broad-based improvement in the economic, personal, current and future components. Households’ assessments of the current general economic was less downbeat, similarly to their expectations on the future general economic situation. Consequently, expectations on future unemployment moderates and future saving opportunities got less gloomy. Moreover, consumers’ assessments of their current financial and economic situation improved somewhat, although their expectations on their future economic situation deteriorated.