ROME, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- Italy's economy revealed new signs of frailty on Friday, as data on business and consumer confidence and on industrial turnover all weakened in the latest reporting periods.
Italy's National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) reported that business and consumer confidence both went down in October, with the biggest decline among individuals and families.
Consumer confidence in October fell to 101.6 points from 105.4 points a month earlier, marking the lowest value for the index since January.
Business confidence, meanwhile, saw a smaller decline, falling to 103.9 points from 104.9 points. Still, it was the lowest survey result for business confidence levels since April 2021.
Both indicators use a 100-point baseline from 2010, adjusted upward or downward based on the responses to the ISTAT survey tabulated near the end of each month. Business and consumer confidence are considered important leading indicators of an economy's performance.
Also on Friday, ISTAT reported that the seasonally adjusted index of industrial turnover decreased by 5 percent in August year-on-year, with contractions in both the domestic and foreign markets. Industrial turnover in August decreased by 0.4 percent compared with July.
ISTAT is expected to release economic growth data for the third quarter (Q3) of the year next week. Italy's gross domestic product shrunk by 0.4 percent in Q2.
Markets in Italy had a mildly negative response to the latest developments, with the blue-chip index on the Italian Stock Exchange in Milan declining by 0.6 percent. The yield on Italy's ten-year government bond declined very slightly to finish the week at 4.81 percent. ■