Denmark Business Confidence Rises Slightly To -16

(RTTNews) - Denmark's business confidence signalled a slight recovery at the start of the year, as entrepreneurs were less negative about production expectations and order backlog along with an improvement in the finished goods stocks on the backdrop of easing trends in global challenges, figures from Statistics Denmark showed on Tuesday.

The industrial confidence index rose to -16 in January from -17 in December.

The overall economic confidence index, which includes consumer expectations, strengthened to a 4-month high of 78.0 in January from 75.4 in the previous month.

The survey revealed that challenges faced by businesses in the form of rising prices, problems with supplies of energy and goods and their risk of liquidation caused by the Russia-Ukraine war, are now easing across the board.

Nevertheless, several firms reported lower order intakes in the past three months, but expect demand to increase in the first quarter of this year. 

However, the latest improvement in the business confidence index is not enough to leave the negative level, which shows a preponderance of expectations of further decreases, the agency said.

Meanwhile, the confidence index in the construction sector remained stable at -15 in January.

The morale in the services sector gained 1.0 points to-2 in January from -3 in the preceding month. Similarly, the retail sector confidence index improved to -32 in January from -34 in the previous month.