Italian consumer sentiment index rebounds in October, business confidence falls

The Italian consumer sentiment rebounded a bit in October. According to the official statistics office Istat, the consumer confidence index improved to 116.6 from 116.1. Delving into individual components, the future component rose to 121.5 from 120.3, while the economic component stayed almost the same at 137.7, a marginal fall from 137.8.

The personal and the current components fell to 108.7 and to 112.5, respectively. The balance concerning expectations on unemployment decreased from 18.2 to 12.9. Both the balance on inflation perceptions referring to the last 12 month and the balance on inflation expectations for the next 12 months improved from -7.8 to -1.3 and from -12.1 to -0.8, respectively.

Given the business sentiment surveys, the composite business confidence climate index dropped to 102.6 from 103.6. In manufacturing, sentiment index fell to 104.9 from 105.6. Both assessments on order books and production expectations deteriorated, while the balance on inventories stayed unchanged.

The confidence index in construction rose to 138.9 from 136.9. Assessments on order books/construction plans rebounded, while employment expectations deteriorated to -2 from -0.6. The marked services sentiment index fell to 103.7 from 105.1. Both the assessments on order books and the assessments on business trend fell in the month, while the expectations on order books rebounded.

The retail trade sentiment index fell to 101.7 from 104.3. The assessments on expectations on future sales and on current sales deteriorated to 23.2 and 3.5, respectively. The index fell in the large scale distribution, while rebounded a bit in the small and medium scale distribution.

At 16:00 GMT the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of Euro was neutral at 11.6674, while the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of US Dollar was bullish at 76.7237. For more details on FxWirePro's Currency Strength Index, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex