Manufacturing confidence held steady at 87.3 this month, while overall business sentiment and consumer confidence rose to 93.7 and 96.8, respectively. Consumer confidence especially grew slightly above the consensus value of 96.5.

Consumer confidence was more positive than manufacturing, rising from 96.2 in August to 96.8 in September. This was due to improvements in the economic climate as well as the current and future climate.

Confidence in the manufacturing sector held steady at 87.3, with improvements in order books but a decline in future volume of production.

Retailers' confidence was once again negatively impacted by increased inventories. The index fell in September from 102.7 to 101.6. This development is confirming other indicators showing a more cautious consumer in the face of uncertainty.

On the other hand, services industry continued to improve slightly, growing from 95.1 to 95.6. This was due to improved outlook for order books and current business trends.

Overall, sentiment remains slightly optimistic with subtle improvements in overall business confidence and consumer sentiments; however, it remains to be seen if this will continue as US tariffs impact Europe.

This latest update takes the RPI to 11 and RPI-P to 19, meaning that economic activities are now slightly outperforming market expectations.

Consumer confidence seen at 96.5 in September versus 96.2 in August.

The Italian statistics office (Istat) conducts business and consumer confidence surveys over the first fifteen and ten working days of each reference month respectively. These provide information about current and expected developments in key sector variables. The largely qualitative results are synthesized for each survey into a single number that provides an overall measure of sentiment. Business confidence reflects the combined results of separate surveys covering manufacturing, retail, construction and services.

If investors want to know how the business or consumer sectors are performing as they evaluate their investment decisions, they can find timely and in depth information in the latest Istat surveys. Although short-term swings can be erratic, changes in trends in confidence can contain very useful information about a sector’s underlying health well in advance of the release of the official data. Moreover, by including some forward-looking components (e.g. manufacturing orders or consumer buying intentions) the Istat surveys can also provide a potential insight into prospective developments.