The consumer confidence indicator “decreased in November after rising in the previous two months,” according to the INE’s “Economic Climate and Consumer Surveys” results.
Conversely, the economic climate indicator “increased in November, continuing the upward movement seen since April.”
The consumer confidence indicator’s decline is attributed to negative contributions regarding expectations about the country’s future economic situation, the financial situation of households, and significant purchases by families.
Contrarily, opinions on the past evolution of households’ financial situations made a positive contribution.
The INE details that the balance of consumer opinions on past price evolution decreased in November, following a “significant increase” in the previous month. Meanwhile, expectations for future price trends declined from September to November after rising in the previous two months.
In November, confidence indicators increased in trade, manufacturing, and construction and public works, while they decreased in services.
The trade confidence indicator increased over the last five months, reflecting positive contributions from all components: company activity outlook, sales volume opinions, and stock appraisals.
The manufacturing confidence indicator also increased in November after declining in October, reflecting the positive contribution of opinions on global demand trends and, “notably, production outlook in the last month.”
Furthermore, in construction and public works, the indicator increased slightly in October and November, indicating a positive contribution from employment expectations, while the component related to order book assessments stabilized.
Conversely, the confidence indicator in services decreased last month, with negative contributions from company activity assessments and demand evolution expectations.
The INE also notes that the balance of business expectations regarding future sales price trends increased in all sectors, from industry to trade and services, “significantly in construction.”
In this edition of the INE’s economic surveys, data collection periods ran from November 3 to 14 (weekdays) for the consumer survey, obtaining 1,168 responses (telephone interviews), and from November 1 to 21 for the qualitative business surveys (‘webinq’), with 1,274 responses in the trade sector, 645 in construction, 1,455 in industry, and 1,402 in services.
