(Finance) – In May, the business confidence index recovered, returning to the level recorded last February. The rise – explains Istat – is due to a improvement of confidence in the market services sector and in the retail sector.
The index of consumer confidence shows a positive evolution after four consecutive months of decline. Widespread improvement of all components with the exception of expectations on the general economic situation and opinions on the possibility of saving in the future.
In May, the Institute of Statistics estimates an increase in both the consumer confidence climate index (from 100 to 102.7) and the composite business confidence climate index (from 108.4 to 110.9).
All components of the consumer confidence index are rising. In particular, the economic climate and the current climate recorded the most marked increases, passing, respectively, from 97.3 to 103.6 and from 100.8 to 104.6; the personal climate rose from 100.9 to 102.4 and the future climate went from 98.9 to 99.8.
With reference to businesses, in industry the confidence index shows a decrease (in manufacturing it falls from 109.9 to 109.3 and in construction it falls from 160.6 to 158.7) while in services it definitely increases (in market services the index increases from 97.2 to 103.6 and in the retail trade it grows from 103.6 to 105.5).
As for the components of the confidence indices, in the manufacture Assessments on orders worsened while expectations on production rose slightly; inventories are deemed to be accumulating compared to last month. In the sector of buildings all components recorded a negative evolution. With reference to the market services, the assessments on orders and on business trends improved significantly but there was a decrease in expectations on orders. Finally, in the Retail the positive dynamics of judgments on sales and inventories contrast with a slight worsening of expectations on the volume of future sales