Press Release: December 2010: Business Climate Indicator improves markedly in the euro area

The Business Climate Indicator (BCI) for the euro area registered a strong increase in December. The level of the indicator is approaching its historical peak reached in spring 2007, suggesting that the recovery in industry will continue in the coming months. The rise in the BCI is due to a broad-based improvement in sentiment among managers in industry who reported, in particular, significant increases in overall order books and in production trend observed in recent months. Managers' assessment of export order books and production expectations improved strongly as well. Finally, stocks of finished goods continued to decline and now stand at a very low level by historical standards.