By Liam Moloney
ROME--Italian manufacturing business confidence fell slightly in
July, for the second month, pulled down by a worsening outlook for
orders, national statistics institute Istat said Monday.
Confidence among Italy's manufacturers slipped to 99.7 in July
from June, according to Istat's monthly survey. June's figure was
revised down to 99.9 from an earlier 100.0 estimate.
The outlook for orders worsened, while the outlook for output
rose and for inventories it stayed flat, "hence the overall drop is
small," said an Istat official.
Italy's composite business confidence index, a broader indicator
subsuming the retail, market-services and construction sectors,
rose to 90.9 in June from 88.2 in June, lifted by an improvement in
the construction sector, which had been particularly depressed in
the previous months, as well as retail and market services, Istat
said.
The construction sector index rose to 83.2 from 81.6 in
June.
Write to Liam Moloney at liam.moloney@wsj.com