Italian consumer sentiment and business confidence ease in February

Italian consumer sentiment eased in the month of February. According to Istat, the consumer confidence index dropped to 112.4 from 113.9. The economic component dropped to 126.6 from 130.5. The personal one from 108.9 to 108.2. Meanwhile, the current one and the future one dropped to 109.4 and to 116.9, respectively.

Looking at the business sentiment surveys, the business sentiment climate index dropped to 98.3 from 99.1. The sentiment in manufacturing softened, with the index falling to 101.7. Assessments on inventories and expectations on production changed a bit and the assessments on order books continued to be significantly stable.

The construction confidence index dropped to 135.5 from 139.2. In particular, the assessments on order books/construction plans continued to be stable and employment expectations worsened to 0.3. The market services sentiment index dropped to 98.3 from 98.6. The balances concerning both assessments and expectations on order books changed for the worse while the expectations on business trend rebounded.

The retail trade sentiment index rose to 105.4 in February from 102.9. Both the assessments on current sales and the expectations on the future ones rebounded. The balance concerning the assessments on volume of stocks also rose, passing from 8.2 to 9.9. The sentiment index rose both in the large scale distribution and in the small and medium scale one to 106.9 and 104.2, respectively.

At 16:00 GMT the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of Euro was neutral at 35.3121, while the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of US Dollar was neutral at -23.7028 more details on FxWirePro's Currency Strength Index, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex