Press Release: October 2007: Business Climate Indicator for the euro area declines further in October

Following a marked decrease in September 2007, the Business Climate Indicator (BCI) for the euro area continued to decline in October. However, in combination with the pick-up in industrial production growth in July and August, the still high level of the indicator suggests that economic activity in the industry sector is continuing to grow at a solid pace. The decrease in the BCI is largely due to a sharp worsening of industry managers' assessment of the production trend observed in recent months. Managers' assessments of both total and export order books and their views of the stocks of finished products also deteriorated somewhat, while their production expectations remained unchanged.