Netherlands: Business confidence jumps in May
After two consecutive monthly drops in business confidence, sentiment increased strongly in May and reached the third-highest level in the history of the survey. The index came in at 9.8 in May, which is up from 8.2 in April, and moved further north of the crucial zero-point mark that separates optimism from pessimism among firms. The reading was also well above the long-term average of 0.8 over the past 20 years.
Although firms were more pessimistic about their stock of finished goods, firms’ outlook on future output and order books improved in May. In addition, all sub-sectors have now remained in positive territory for over a year, with firms in the wood and building materials industry the most optimistic in May.