Italy: Consumer confidence continues to rise in October
The consumer confidence index released by the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) edged up to 116.6 points in October from September’s revised 116.1 points (previously reported: 116.0 points).
Consumers’ expectations of their future personal economic situation, their assessments of their current personal economic situation and their unemployment expectations improved, driving the upturn in the index. On the other hand, their expectations of the future general economic situation and their assessments of the current general economic situation deteriorated, likely reflecting growing worries about recent financial markets jitters fueled by the economic and fiscal consequences arising from the government’s spendthrift draft budget that has precipitated a fallout with the EU. Meanwhile, consumers’ willingness to buy big-ticket items, their assessments of their current financial situation and and their assessments of future saving possibilities worsened.