Belgium Business Confidence Less Negative In May

(RTTNews) - Belgium's business confidence increased slightly in May as the morale improved strongly in the trade and building sectors, survey data from the National Bank of Belgium showed Thursday.

The business confidence indicator rose to -13.5 in May from -14.7 in the previous month.

The confidence measure for the trade sector rose to -10.9 from -17.0, led by improved demand expectations. Similarly, the morale for the building industry increased notably to -7.5 from -13.1 as order books strengthened and positive demand expectations among business leaders.

The continued fall in the confidence of business-related services halted somewhat in May, with the respective index rising to -9.0 from -9.3. The slight improvement was driven by positive expectations about future activity and overall market demand.

Meanwhile, the confidence indicator for the manufacturing industry remained stable at -16.1.