Press Release: April 2006: Business Climate Indicator for the euro area improves strongly

The Business Climate Indicator (BCI) for the euro area improved strongly in April 2006, suggesting that industrial production growth should be sustained throughout the first half of the year. The increase in the BCI was largely due to marked improvements in industry managers' assessment of the production trend observed in recent months and of both total order books and export order books. A smaller improvement was reported for the stocks of finished products, while managers' production expectations for the months ahead remained unchanged.