In October 2020, the consumer confidence declined from 103.3 to 102.0. Looking at the components, the deterioration mainly distinguished the economic and the future indices which passed from 94.5 to 87.8 and from 109.3 to 104.5, respectively. As for the other components, the personal climate weakened from 107.1 to 106.4 and the current one from 100.2 to 99.9.
For what concerns the business confidence climate, the index (IESI, Istat Economic Sentiment Indicator) further bettered from 91.3 to 92.9.
The confidence index in manufacturing improved from 92.6 to 95.6. Whith regard to opinions on current trend of order books, the balance of the variable recovered from -33.7 to -26.0. On the contrary, the future developments in production were considered less favourable and the related balance declined from 1.8 to 1.4. Finally, firms judged their inventories levels to decline and consequently the related balance diminished from 4.0 to 2.6.
The confidence index in construction improved further going from 138.6 to 142.5. More specifically, both the balance of assessments on order books/construction and the one of employment expectations went up: the first one recovered from -18.6 to -15.0 and the second one increased from 1.7 to 3.2.
The market services confidence index slipped from 88.7 to 88.1. Among the series composing the index, the assessments on order books and the ones on business trend changed for the better (the related balances went up from -10.3 to -9.1 and from -12.2 to -10.4, respectively), while the expectations on order books worsened (the balance of the variable went from -1.5 to -6.6).
The retail trade confidence index bettered from 97.5 to 99.3. Surveyed firms’ assessments and expectations for current and future volume of sales were more favourable while inventories were still judged to be in the rise (the balances rose from -3.3 to -1.0, from 11.8 to 16.1 and, finally, from 9.1 to 10.2, respectively). According to the breakdown by type of distribution, a mixed picture emerged. The index actually deteriorated from 97.4 to 96.8 in the large scale distribution and improved significantly from 97.2 to 105.1 in the small and medium scale one.