In the second quarter of the year, Italy's economy, adjusted for calendar and seasonal effects, grew by 0.2 percent, marking the fourth consecutive quarter of positive growth after a slight dip in the second quarter of the previous year. This consistent, albeit modest, expansion boosted the year-over-year growth rate to 0.9 percent.

This provisional estimate is largely fuelled by the robust services sector, which significantly contributed to GDP growth. Conversely, the agriculture, forestry, fishing, and industrial sectors posted negative contributions, highlighting sectoral disparities. On the demand side, domestic consumption, including inventories, positively impacted GDP, while the net foreign component had a negative effect.

The data underscore a cautiously optimistic economic outlook, driven primarily by domestic demand and resilience in the services sector. The mixed performance across sectors emphasizes the need to strengthen weaker sectors, particularly agriculture and industry while leveraging the resilience of the services sector. Thus, fostering balanced growth across all sectors is crucial for maintaining and enhancing Italy's economic stability and expansion. As a result of the positive overall economic numbers, the RPI and the RPI-P both climbed to 4, indicating that the Italian economy is performing slightly below market expectations.

Second quarter GDP is expected to expand 0.2 percent versus the previous period when it grew a surprisingly respectable 0.3 percent.

Gross domestic product (GDP) is the broadest measure of aggregate economic activity and encompasses every sector of the economy. A flash estimate, providing just quarterly and annual growth rates together with some limited qualitative information on sector output, is usually available 6-7 weeks after the reference quarter.

GDP is the all-inclusive measure of economic activity. Investors need to closely track the economy because it usually dictates how investments will perform. Stock market Investors like to see healthy economic growth because robust business activity translates to higher corporate profits. The GDP report contains information which not only paints an image of the overall economy, but tells investors about important trends within the big picture. These data, which follow the international classification system (SNA93), are readily comparable to other industrialized countries. GDP components such as consumer spending, business and residential investment illuminate the economy's undercurrents, which can translate to investment opportunities and guidance in managing a portfolio.

Each financial market reacts differently to GDP data because of their focus. For example, equity market participants cheer healthy economic growth because it improves the corporate profit outlook while weak growth generally means anemic earnings. Equities generally drop on disappointing growth and climb on good growth prospects.

Bond or fixed income markets are contrarians. They prefer weak growth so that there is less of a chance of higher central bank interest rates and inflation. When GDP growth is poor or negative it indicates anemic or negative economic activity. Bond prices will rise and interest rates will fall. When growth is positive and good, interest rates will be higher and bond prices lower. Currency traders prefer healthy growth and higher interest rates. Both lead to increased demand for a local currency. However, inflationary pressures put pressure on a currency regardless of growth.