France May business confidence eases on subdued export demand

Manufacturing business confidence in France for the month of May fell after surging in April, mainly on weak demand from overseas exports.

The manufacturing business confidence fell to 104 from a revised 105 in April. However, analysts had expected the number to stay flat at 104, which was originally reported for the previous month.

Among the sub-components, the index for past activity improved and the measure for finished-goods inventor remained unchanged. Businesses were more pessimistic regarding their global order book levels, especially overseas bookings, reports showed.

Meanwhile, manufacturers seemed slightly less optimistic on their output expectations, but their general production expectations rose sharply, however.