Brussels, 30 January 2012 - Brussels, 30 January 2012 - In January 2012, the Business Climate Indicator (BCI) for the euro area rose for the second month in a row. The improvement in the BCI was mainly driven by a more positive assessment of production trends observed in recent months and of export order books. Managers' appraisal of stocks of finished products also improved. By contrast, managers were more pessimistic about their overall order books, while their production expectations remained broadly unchanged.

The BCI is based on a factor analysis of the euro area aggregate balances (seasonally adjusted) of five of the monthly questions in the industry survey (only employment and selling-price expectations are excluded).

Full details of the Business Climate Indicator are available on the Europa website:

http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/db_indicators/surveys/index_en.htm

The next BCI Results are due to be published on 28 February 2012.