In November 2023, the consumer confidence index increased from 101.6 to 103.6 thanks to a rise in all its components. Indeed, a significant improvement was observed in the personal climate (from 98.6 to 101.2), in the current one (from 97.4 to 99.8), in the future one (from 107.7 to 109.3), and finally in the economic one (from 110.5 to 111.0).
With reference to the business confidence climate, the index (IESI, Istat Economic Sentiment Indicator) continued to worsen, declining from 103.9 to 103.4.
The confidence climate in manufacturing increased from 96.1 to 96.6. The balance referring to the assessments on order books slightly decreased, while the one related to the expectations on production recovered (the related balances passed from -21.1 to -21.3 and from 0.8 to 2.1, respectively). Finally, inventories were considered to have declined slightly (the balance of the variable slipped from 5.5 to 5.2).
The confidence climate in construction decreased from 163.8 to 161.3. More specifically, the worsening was due to decreasing assessments on order books/construction and to deteriorated expectations on employment (the related balances varied from 6.4 to 5.5 from 10.0 to 7.6, respectively).
The market services confidence climate worsened from 98.0 to 96.4. Widespread pessimism emerged from assessments on order books (the balance of the variable passed from 0.1 to -1.2). The opinions on both current business trend and future volume of order books also gave less favourable indications (the related balances passed from 0.0 to -2.4 and from 4.8 to 3.4, respectively).
The retail trade confidence index, after the October contraction, rose again from 106.1 to 107.4. The balance referring to the current business trend decreased from 16.7 to 12.6, while the one concerning the future volume of sales clearly improved from 19.1 to 27.4. Lastly, a very slight increase in the level of inventories was reported (the related balance went up just from 10.1 to 10.3).