Consumer and business confidence - October 2026

In October, the consumer confidence climate declined from 91.2 to 90.3 backed by the deterioration of both economic and current indices which passed from 88.0 to 82.9, and from 90.4 to 88.7, respectively. As for the other confidence components, the personal climate rose from 92.4 to 93.0, whilst the one of future climate remained unchanged at 92.3.

Regarding the business confidence climate, the index (IESI, Istat Economic Sentiment Indicator) increased from 95.9 to 96.6. 

The manufacturing confidence climate held steady at 91.9. Compared to the previous survey, firms marginally improved their assessments on order-books and their expectations on production (the related balances moved from -13.5 to -13.1 and from 8.9 to 9.2, respectively). Nevertheless, respondents reported a rise in the level of inventories (the balance of the variable varied from 3.9 to 4.4).

The construction confidence climate rose slightly from 97.5 to 97.8. Firms’ assessments on order books were less pessimistic (the related balance recovered from -10.9 to -7.3), while expectations on future employment worsened (the corresponding balance reduced from 6.1 to 3.1).

The market service confidence climate improved from 97.1 to 99.6. Rosier indications came from assessments and expectations on order-books and from assessments on current business activity too (the related balances increased from 2.1 to 3.6, from 5.6 to 10.9 and from 3.1 to 4.5, respectively).

The retail trade confidence climate worsened from 104.3 to 100.7. The decline was due to the strong decreasing assessments on current business trend and to the declining expectations on future sales, while the level of inventories remained substantially stable (the corresponding balances varied from 18.6 to 7.6, from 22.7 to 21.9 and from 7.3 to 7.2, respectively).