French business confidence holds up in January despite terrorist attacks

French business confidence improved slightly at the start of 2016, showing that sentiment among executives was resilient in the face of falling equity markets, some economists said.

The composite business confidence survey increased to 102 points in January from 101 in the month before, according to French statistics office INSEE, in-line with market expectations.

That came amid a better orders-to-inventory ratio.

Sentiment among manufacturing firms on the other hand was unchanged, with a sub-index tracking it steady at a reading of 102 (consensus: 103).

A sub-index of manufacturing companies' expectations for their own levels of output - one of the most widely-followed gauges contained in the report- increased from a print of +9 in December to a reading of +10 for January.

"Outside manufacturing, services sentiment rebounded to its long-term average as “expected demand” and firms’ “general outlook” improved, supporting the story that the hit from the Paris terrorist attacks was temporary," Pantheon Macroeconomics said in a research note sent to clients.

Car-makers' own production expectations surged from a reading of -9 in December to +50 in January.