French Business Confidence Surges Just Before New Curbs

(Bloomberg) -- French business confidence jumped seven points in March, beating economist expectations for a one point improvement and reaching its highest level since the start of the Covid pandemic. The strongest increases were recorded in the retail and services sectors, while the reading for industry was stable after several months of steadier increases. The positive outlook may not hold as most of the responses in Insee’s monthly survey were recorded before the government began tightening restrictions again with the closure of more shops deemed non-essential.

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