In Italy, consumer and business sentiment has been mixed at the beginning of the year. While business sentiment brightened in January, consumer sentiment clouded over. It fell by 1.6 points to 100.9 points, as reported by the Istat statistics office in Rome on Thursday. Analysts had expected stagnation on average.
Business sentiment, on the other hand, brightened by 1.2 points to 109.1 points. The indicator for industry rose from 101.5 to 102.7 points. The mood was also better in construction and among service providers, but it deteriorated in retail. (dpa)