French industrial confidence edges up

French industrial confidence edged up in July for the fourth month running but remains low after collapsing early in the year, official data showed on Thursday.
The industrial confidence index moved up two points to 78 points, the national statistics institute INSEE said.
In March, this leading indicator of the business climate had fallen to the lowest point snce it was created, 68 points, after 15 months of falls in a row.
It then began to firm and reached 76 points in June, a revised figure from INSEE showed.
"Company leaders questioned in July said that the industrial situation was improving slightly," INSEE said.
"Business people in the manufacturing industry believe that the fall in their activity which they have experienced has eased up to some degree."
But, INSEE also said: "Given their own expectations for output, the drop in activity is likely to continue for the next few months, but at a more moderate rate."
The view of industrialists about the outlook for industrial activity in general was not improving and remained negative, at minus 40 points as in June, after a low point of minus 76 in February, INSEE said.