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

Following a recovery in November, the Business Climate Indicator (BCI) for the euro area decreased in December. The indicator is still at a relatively high level, and in combination with the pick-up in industrial production in October, this suggests that economic activity in the industry sector will continue to grow at a solid pace.
The decrease in the BCI is essentially caused by a worsening of industry managers' assessment of the production trend observed in recent months. To a lesser extent, managers' assessments of their production expectations and total order books also contributed to the decline. The views of stocks of finished products and export order books remained unchanged.