BRUSSELS: In the business-related services sector, the loss of confidence showed up in all components of the indicator, though mainly in the forecasts for general market demand, which worsened for the second month in a row.
In the manufacturing industry, the cyclical weakening is attributable to a significant downward revision of employment expectations and, to a lesser extent, to a more negative appraisal of total order books. The slight drop shown in construction is due to a reduction in order books and to a lower equipment utilisation rate.