Italy: Business confidence improves somewhat but remains deeply pessimistic in July
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 from 66.2 in June to 76.7 in July.
July’s rise came on the back of a broad-based improvement across all sectors. That said, overall confidence remained downbeat. The largest improvement was recorded in the market services sector, while the manufacturing, construction and retail trade sectors regained ground to a lesser extent.