Istat: consumer and business confidence rises in September

Milan, 26 September (LaPresse) – In September 2025, Istat estimates an improvement in consumer confidence (from 96.2 to 96.8) and a marginal increase in the composite indicator of business confidence (from 93.6 to 93.7). As far as consumers are concerned, Istat highlights an overall improvement in opinions on the general economic situation, the current situation and the future situation: the economic climate rises from 97.0 to 98.8, the current climate increases from 99.2 to 99.9 and the future climate grows from 92.2 to 92.6; the personal climate remains essentially unchanged (from 95.9 to 96.0). With regard to businesses, the confidence index rose in construction and market services (from 101.3 to 101.5 and from 95.1 to 95.6, respectively), while it remained unchanged in manufacturing (at 87.3) and fell in retail trade (from 102.7 to 101.6). As for the components of the confidence indices, with regard to businesses, in manufacturing, assessments of orders improved, while expectations regarding production levels worsened; stocks of finished products are considered stable compared to last month. In construction, a positive trend in assessments of orders is combined with declining expectations for employment. In the market services sector, expectations for orders are rising sharply, while assessments of orders and business trends are deteriorating. In retail trade, there is a marked deterioration in assessments of sales and an increase in inventories; expectations for sales are rising.