Italian Consumer Confidence Declines to 17-Year Low

Italian consumer confidence unexpectedly declined this month to the lowest in at least 17 years as the country’s fourth recession since 2001 damped optimism.

The confidence index dropped to 84.6, the lowest since the series began in 1996, from 85.7 percent in December, the Italian statistics office Istat said in Rome today. Economists had predicted an increase to 86, according to the median of 12 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey.