In July 2020, the consumer confidence weakened from 100.7 to 100.0. As for its components, both the economic and the future one declined (from 87.1 to 85.7, the first and from 105.6 to 104.2, the second), while the personal one and the current one bettered (from 104.5.0 to 105.2 and from 96.4 to 97.3, respectively).
Concerning the business confidence climate, the index (IESI, Istat Economic Sentiment Indicator) increased from 66.2 to 76.7.
The confidence index in manufacturing got better from 80.2 to 85.2. Both opinions on order books and expectations on production progressed while inventories were considered to diminish. In particular, the balances of the first two variables grew from -55.6 to -47.8 and from -7.5 to -3.2, respectively while the one of the last variable moved from 8.2 to 5.9.
The confidence index in construction continued to improve, passing from 124.0 to 129.7. Looking at the series composing the index, the balance of assessments on order books/construction bettered from -33.4 to -24.3 while the one of employment expectations worsened from -2.8 to -4.4.
The market services confidence index increased from 52.1 to 65.8. All its components bettered: the balance of assessments on order books improved from -66.8 to -49.3, the one related to business trend from -63.4 to -48.3 and, finally, the one of expectations on order books from -7.8 to 2.4.
The retail trade confidence index increased from 79.6 to 86.3 backed by more optimism about current and future developments in sales and by de-stocking of inventories. In detail, the balance of assesments on current sales recuperated from -45.7 to -36.8, the one on future business improved from 10.0 to 17.2 and, finally, the one relating to stocks passed from 19.8 to 15.4. The improvement in confidence was spread across both distribution channels: the confidence index rose from 73.1 to 79.2 in the small and medium scale distribution and from 82.1 to 88.7 in the large scale one.
During data collection phase, carried out from 1 to 17 July 2020, the ongoing health emergency did not impact on the response rates. The exceptional data changes recorded from March onwards, were adequately managed in the data processing (see Methodological Note on page 12).