In November 2022, the consumer confidence index increased markedly passing from 90.1 to 98.1. The positive development was mainly due to the improvement of both the economic and the future confidence climate (from 77.6 to 95.2, the first and from 88.8 to 102.8, the second one). However, also the personal climate and the current one rose considerably (from 94.3 to 99.0 and from 91.0 to 94.9, respectively).
Regarding the business confidence climate, the index (IESI, Istat Economic Sentiment Indicator) increased from 104.7 to 106.4.
The confidence climate in manufacturing went up from 100.7 to 102.5. In more detail, respondents negatively judged order books, while they markedly improved their expectations on future production (the balances of the variables passed from -8.3 to -9.6 and from -0.6 to 6.2, respectively). Lastly, responding firms considered inventories to have slight increased (the related balance went up from 3.9 to 4.3).
The confidence climate in construction worsened significantly from 157.5 to 151.9. All its components went down: the expectations on employment from 5.8 to 1.1 and the assessments on order books/construction from 2.3 to -0.4.
The market services confidence index increased from 96.0 to 98.8. Slight deterioration emerged from both assessments on order books and on business trend (the balances of the variables went down passing from 2,8 to 2,6 and from 3.2 to 2.9, respectively), while more widespread optimism emerged from the expectations on order books (the related balance surged from -7.4 to 1.9).
The retail trade confidence index moved up from 109.0 to 112.2. Compared to the previous survey, the opinions on current business activity slight worsened while expectations for future sales considerably improved (the related balances passed from 18.3 to 17.9 and from 17.1 to 27.5, respectively). Finally, inventories were considered to be substantially stable (from 0.9 to 0.8 the related balance).
Starting from November, 2022 Istat disseminates the reply percentage frequencies and balances concerning the question on predictability of future business situation (business surveys)/future financial situation of the household (consumer survey). For further details see the Methodological Note, section “Output: main measures of analysis” and “Data dissemination”.