Italian Confidence

Italian business confidence probably dropped to 93.7 this month from 94.4 in November, according to the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News before the figures are released tomorrow. That would be the least since January 2010. Consumers in the euro area’s third-biggest economy spent 48 euros less per person this holiday season than the average of the past five years, Rome-based consumer group Codacons said in a statement on its website. A gauge of confidence among consumers in the U.S. increased to 64.5 this month from a revised 55.2 reading in November, according to data yesterday from the Conference Board, a New York-based private research group. The figure exceeded all estimates in a Bloomberg poll and was the highest since April.