IP/10/1437
Brussels, 28 October 2010
October 2010: Business Climate Indicator increases further in the euro area
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. The Business Climate Indicator (BCI) for the euro area registered a further significant gain in October. The level of the indicator suggests that economic activity in industry will continue to recover in the coming months. The indicator now stands at its highest level since September 2007. The sizeable increase of the BCI was broad based, reflecting in particular managers' upbeat assessment of their order books and export order books.
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).
Full details of the Business Climate Indicator are available on the Europa website:
http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/db_indicators/surveys/index_en.htm
The next BCI Results are due to be published on 29 November 2010.
