https://www.cmegroup.com/content/dam/cmegroup/images/common/default/article-940x600.jpg
IT: Business and Consumer Confidence
| Actual | Previous | |
| Business Confidence | 97.3 | 97.4 |
| Manufacturing Confidence | 88.8 | 88.5 |
| Consumer Confidence | 92.6 | 97.4 |
Highlights
Italy's official survey of business and consumer confidence showed mixed results in March. The headline measure for business confidence fell from 97.4 to 97.3, with this stability largely reflecting similar stability in the measure of manufacturing confidence which increased from 88.5 to 88.8. The survey's headline measure of consumer confidence fell sharply from 97.4 in February to 92.6 in March, its lowest level since October 2023. Respondents reported weaker sentiment about general economic conditions and their personal circumstances and are also more pessimistic about both current and future conditions.
Definition
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.
Description
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.