July 2010: Business Climate Indicator for the euro area picks up

Important notice: since May 2010 business surveys data are classified in accordance with an updated version of the Nomenclature of Economic Activities (NACE rev. 2) causing a potential break in series at this date

In July, the Business Climate Indicator (BCI) for the euro area picked up after the pause observed in June. The improvement in the indicator suggests that economic activity in industry will continue to recover in the coming months, although it has still some way to go to reach its pre-crisis level. Managers in industry were upbeat about their order books and production trend observed in recent months. They were also more optimistic about their export order books. Meanwhile, managers' assessment of their stocks of finished products remained unchanged, and their production expectations were cautious.

The BCI is based on a factor analysis of the euro area aggregate balances (seasonally adjusted) of five of the monthly questions in the industry survey (only employment and selling-price expectations are excluded).

For more information: Business Climate Indicator

The next BCI Results are due to be published on 30 August 2010.