French manufacturers more optimistic about business climate in July

Confidence of French business leaders on the country's economic activities improved slightly in July, with the monthly sentiment indicator gaining one point to 87, the national statistics bureau INSEE said Tuesday. The indicator inched up thanks to the positive performance of industry and services but was still below its long term average of 100 points. "In spite of a new increase in July, the general production outlook, which represents business leaders' opinion on French industry as a whole, remains at a very low level," INSEE said in its monthly report. Pointing to slight improvement in businesses in the short term, the French central bank Banque de France (BdF) expected the country's economy to grow by 0.2 percent in the second quarter of the year. France slashed its growth forecast to 0.1 percent this year from a previous target of 0.8 percent.