Consumer and business confidence - December 2025

In December 2025, the consumer confidence index rose from 95.0 to 96.6. The increase in confidence was evident across all its components: the personal climate improved from 94.5 to 96.4, the current one from 98.6 to 100.2, the future one 90.2 to 91.6 and, finally, the economic one from 96.5 to 97.0.

With regard to the business confidence climate, the index (IESI, Istat Economic Sentiment Indicator)
rose from 96.1 to 96.5.  

The manufacturing confidence climate decreased from 89.5 to 88.4. In particular, compared to the previous month, both assessments on order books and expectations on production deteriorated, while inventories were considered to have built up slightly (the balances of the variables moved from -18.1 to -20.4, from 3.4 to 2.7 and from 1.4 to 1.6, respectively).

The construction confidence climate weakened further from 102.6 to 101.0. Widespread pessimism emerged from expectations on employment, but respondents gave a positive appraisal on order book volume (the related balances varied from 9.8 to 4.1 and from -4.4 to -1.9, respectively).

The market service confidence climate improved from 97.8 to 100.0. Optimism characterized mainly opinions on current business trend, while both assessments and expectations on order book level also increased (the corresponding balances rose from 2.5 to 7.5, from 3.8 to 5.8 and from 6.8 to 7.1).

The retail trade confidence climate remained essentially unchanged, moving from 107.3 to 107.2. Unfavourable signals emerged from assessments on current business trend, while expectations on future sales showed signals of optimism (the related balances varied from 25.5 to 20.0 and from 27.1 to 29.9, respectively). Lastly, the inventory level was getting thinner (the balance of the variable decreased from 9.0 to 6.7).