Consumer and business confidence

In May 2019, the consumer confidence index improved from 110.6 to 111.8. Looking at its components: the economic one bettered from 122.8 to 125.9, the personal one from 105.9 to 107.4, the current one from 106.9 to 109.6 and, finally, the future one from 115.6 to 115.8.

As for the business confidence climate, the related index (IESI, Istat Economic Sentiment Indicator) increased from 98.8 to 100.2.

The confidence index in manufacturing progressed from 100.8 to 102.0. Assessments on order books and expectations on production improved. The balance of the former variable increased from -11.7 to -11.3 while the one of the latter variable rose from 3.6 to 5.9. As regards to the assessments on inventories, the related balance passed from 4.3 to 3.6.

The confidence index in construction went up from 141.2 to 144.3. In detail, the assessments on order books/construction plans improved from -18.8 to -14.9 and the employment expectations bettered from 5.4 to 5.6.

The market services confidence index edged up slightly from 99.1 to 99.3. With reference to the variables composing the index, both assessments on order books and the ones on business trend worsened (from -1.8  to -2.1 the balance of the first variable and from 8.2 to 6.2 the balance of the second one) while the expectations on order books went up significantly (the related balance increased from 1.8 to 4.8).

The retail trade confidence index got better moving from 101.3 to 102.6. In particular, assessments on current sales recovered while expectations on the future ones deteriorated (from -0.9 to 6.1 the former and from 20.6 to 18.7 the latter). Finally, as regards the assessments on volume of stocks, the relative balance passed from 8.7 to 9.8. The confidence index improved both in the large scale distribution (from 102.8 to 105.2) and in the small and medium scale one (from 98.7 to 99.1).