Italy BCI Improves, But CCI Falls

Italy’s business confidence index increased in April, while consumer confidence fell moderately, the National Institute of Statistics said on Thursday, Xinhua reported. The composite business confidence climate rose to 107.4 points from 105.1 points in March, according to the monthly survey. The improvement was more visible in the construction sector, where the index reached 128.0 from 123.3 in the previous month. The retail trade confidence also climbed to 110.8 from 108.8, followed by the market services sector (107.8 from 106.4), and by the manufacturing sector (107.9 from 107.2). The composite confidence climate among companies in Italy has been gradually improving since December 2016, when it had posted 100.8 points, according to the official statistics. Meanwhile, the consumer confidence index slightly dropped to 107.5 points in April from 107.6 in March. The economic and future components among Italian households in fact decreased to 125.0 from 126.4, and to 110.1 from 111.6, respectively, while the personal and current components improved to 101.5 from 101.0 and to 105.6 from 104.5.