Sentiment between consumers and businesses in Italy deteriorated again in August, after several months of increase. According to data released today by Istat, in August both the consumer confidence index (from 116.6 to 116.2) and that of businesses (from 115.9 to 114.2) fell.
The slight decline in consumer confidence, after four consecutive months of increase, is essentially caused by a marked decline in expectations on the general economic situation and by a deterioration in assessments both on the family situation and on the purchase of durable goods. In particular, the personal component fell from 112.2 to 110.8 and the future one from 123.5 to 122.5 while the economic climate improved from 129.6 to 132.4 and the current one remained substantially stable (from 111.9 to 112.0).
As for business confidence, there was a decline of 1.7 percentage points, after 8 consecutive months of increase. However, the figure remains at historically high levels. The manufacturing and construction sectors, where all components are worsening, mainly contributed to the index decline, as well as market services with expectations on orders in sharp decline. Retail trade was an exception, where the index rose (from 111.3 to 113.9).