Netherlands: Business confidence eases slightly in September
Sentiment in the manufacturing industry eased for the fourth consecutive month in September, with business confidence dropping to 5.7 from 5.9 in August. Despite the drop, the index remained above the crucial zero-point threshold marking optimism from pessimism. The result was also markedly above the long-term average of 0.8 over the past 20 years.
The decline was driven by less optimism regarding future output. In contrast, manufacturers were more upbeat regarding their stocks of finished goods. Their views on order books remained virtually unchanged. Additionally, all sub-components of the sentiment index remained in optimistic territory and all subsectors of the manufacturing industry retained a positive outlook, which has been the case for nearly two years. Companies in the wood and construction industry were once again the most positive in September.