Italian Consumer Confidence Rises as Business Confidence Sees Slight Decline

Rome: Istat said Friday that its consumer-confidence index rose from 96.1 in June to 97.2 points in July, while its composite index of business confidence fell from 93.9 to 93.6.

According to Ansa News Agency, although business confidence was down overall, it rose for some sectors, the national statistics agency said. It said it increased for manufacturing (from 87.3 to 87.8) and retail (from 102.0 to 105.8) but decreased for market services (from 95.5 to 93.7) and construction (from 103.4 to 102.4).