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Italian manufacturers signal improved operating conditions for the first time in year
Italy's manufacturing sector showed some signs of positivity in March, with both new orders and output edging just inside growth territory. Optimism towards the year-ahead outlook picked up, and firms recorded the quickest jobs growth seen for a year. That said, with new orders rising only fractionally, manufacturers continued to cut stocks and downscaled their purchasing activity. The HCOB Italy Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ IndexTM (PMI®), a composite single-figure indicator of manufacturing performance derived from indicators for new orders, output, employment, suppliers’ delivery times and stocks of ... (full story)