Manufacturing confidence slump

Italian manufacturers’ confidence stagnated in October, adding to concern that record oil prices will damp consumer spending and slow the pace of European growth.

The Rome-based Isae institute’s confidence index, based on a survey of 4,000 manufacturers, rose to 91.0 from a revised 90.7 in September. Isae changed the base year for its survey to 2000 from 1995, leading to a revision of all the data from 1991. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg predicted an unchanged reading in the month.

Italy will be the second-worst performing economy of the 12 nations sharing the euro this year, the Brussels-based European Commission said yesterday.