Business confidence in the Netherlands rose to -0.8 in October from -1.6 in the previous month. This marked the highest reading since April 2023, mainly due to the increased optimism about expected production over the next three months (10.7 vs 9.4 in September). Their assessments of finished goods inventories (-4.7 vs -5.4) and order books (-8.5 vs -8.9) were also less pessimistic. The outlook improved across more than half of the underlying sectors. Producers in other industries, such as machinery repair and installation, and furniture were the most optimistic, while producers in the electrical and machinery industry were the most pessimistic.