The business climate indicator for the Euro Area fell to 1.01 in October of 2018 from 1.21 in each of the previous two months and below market expectations of 1.14. It is the lowest reading since May of 2017. Managers' appraisals of their overall and export orders books deteriorated, as did, to a lesser extent, their assessments of past production and the stocks of finished products. In contrast, managers' production expectations remained virtually unchanged. Business Confidence in the Euro Area averaged 0 Index Points from 1985 until 2018, reaching an all time high of 1.62 Index Points in January of 2018 and a record low of -3.27 Index Points in March of 2009.
Business Confidence in Euro Area is expected to be 1.11 Index Points by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate Business Confidence in Euro Area to stand at 1.10 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the Euro Area Business Climate Indicator is projected to trend around 1.00 Index Points in 2020, according to our econometric models.