Consumer confidence hits all-time high

(ANSA) - Rome, November 27 - Italian consumer confidence hit the highest level on record this month, Istat said Friday.
    The national statistics agency's consumer-confidence index climbed to 118.4 points in November, the highest since it started publishing data on this factor in January 1995, up from 117 points in October. The agency added that the data was only affected "in a minimum part" by this month's terrorist attacks in Paris, possibly because much of the information used to compile it was collected in the first half of November.
    Consumer confidence is considered important by experts because people tend to spend less if they are pessimistic about the economic climate, making it a key factor for the economic outlook.
    Italy has returned to positive growth in 2015 after years of recession.
    Italian business confidence stayed "substantially stationary" in November at its highest level since October 2007, before the start of the global economic crisis, Istat said on Friday. The national statistics agency said its business-confidence index was 107.1 this month, up from 107 in October. The agency said optimism was on the rise in the construction and market services sectors, but was down in manufacturing and retail.