No Major Change in Business Confidence in May

Finnish manufacturing confidence was still rather weak in May. It scored -11 points, revised figure -10 points in April. The long-term average is +1.

Production is expected to stagnate during the next few months. Order books are smaller than their long-term normal. Stocks of final goods have increased and their level is somewhat above average.

Finnish construction confidence indicator recovered somewhat in May. It improved to -10 points from the revised figure of -16 points one month earlier. Despite the improvement, confidence is below its long-term average (-8). Order books are smaller than normal and personnel is still expected to decrease sligthly.

The service sector confidence indicator lost a few points in May. It declined to +2 points from the revised figure of +4 in April. Its long-term average is +13. The overall business situation has still deteriorated slightly. However, some sales growth is expected for the next few months.

Confidence in retail trade continued its recovery. However, the confidence indicator is well below its average level. It scored -11 points in May (revised figure -17 in April). The long-term average is -2. Sales volumes have declined but they would be almost stable in the near future.

• Confidence Indicators, May 2015 (pdf)
• The data (excel)