(Finance) – Istat has communicated that, in February 2023, the index of consumer confidence climate improved from 100.9 to 104.0 points (better than the 102.7 points expected by analysts), while the composite index of business confidence climate it remained stable at 109.1. The stability of the business confidence climate is caused by opposing signals from the economic sectors under investigation, underlines the National Institute of Statistics, explaining that the industry records substantial stability mainly conveyed by the manufacturing sector while there is a limited deterioration in confidence in constructions.
Consumer confidence
Among the component series of the consumer confidence index, there is a marked improvement in opinions on general economic situation while conflicting signals emerge from the variables referring to the family economic situation.
The four indicators calculated monthly from the same components reflect the changes recorded by the single variables: il economic climate and future climate recorded marked increases (respectively from 107.6 to 114.5 and from 108.6 to 113.4), while personal and current climate increased to a lesser extent (in order, from 98.6 to 100.5 and from 95.7 to 97.6).
Business confidence
With reference to businesses, the climate of confidence worsens in the sector of market services (from 104.2 to 103.3) and in that of buildings (from 158.8 to 157.2), remains stable in the manufacturing (at 102.8) and improves in the Retail (from 110.6 to 114.6).
Considering the components of business confidence climates calculated for the various sectors, it can be seen that in the services on the market, judgments and expectations on order books worsen while opinions on business trends are slightly better than last month; in buildings Worsening evaluations on orders go hand in hand with rising expectations on employment at the company. As for the manufacturing, views on orders and demand and production expectations are on a positive momentum while valuations on inventories point to a build-up. Finally, in Retail assessments and, above all, expectations on sales are estimated to be markedly improving while the balance of assessments on inventories increases.