Italy Business Climate Index IESI Moderately Up In December, PPI Drops In November

Italy's business confidence climate index in Italy nudged up in December, while industrial producer price inflation, or PPI, in November declined on a monthly basis, data released on Monday by the National Institute of Statistics, showed.

Italy’s composite business confidence index, or IESI, which measures sentiment in the manufacturing, construction, services and retail sectors, edged up to 83.6 in December from 83.4 in November.

The confidence index in manufacturing rose to 98.2 in December from an upwardly revised 98 in November, while in construction, it rose to 82.6 from a 80.4 reading in the previous month. The moderate increase in these two sectors was compounded by a slight increase in confidence in services, with the index rising to 80.6 from 80.5, and in retail trade, the index remained unchanged at 90.7.

The country's PPI clocked in at a negative 0.1 percent in November on a monthly basis, compared with October’s upwardly revised negative 0.8 percent. On an annual basis, producer prices declined 1.8 percent in November, in line with expectations, compared to an upward revised 2 percent decrease registered in the same period last year.