TRADE CONFIDENCE RISES 1.3 POINT in MARCH COMPARED with FEBRUARY, REVEALS FGV

The trade confidence index (Icom) advanced 1.3 point in the passage of February to March, the seventh consecutive high, reaching 96.8 points, reported Tuesday morning, 27, the Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV). With the result, the indicator reached the highest level since April 2014, when I was at 97.8 points. "The first quarter of 2018 closes with strong advancement of indicators of current situation compared to the previous quarter, reinforcing the sales recovery framework that had been drawing since last year. In the same period, there were gauge expectations, which remain relatively stable after sharply higher at the end of 2017, suggesting caution on the part of entrepreneurs despite the improvements already occurred "evaluated Rodolpho Tobler, Coordinator of the Polling Trade in the Brazilian Institute of Economics from FGV (Ibre/FGV), in official statement. There was improvement in confidence in seven of the 13 segments surveyed. The Expectations index (IE-with) advanced 1.8 point to 100.2 points, returning to the area of optimism after two months of falls. Already the Current Situation index (ISA-with) grew 0.7 point in the month, to 93.5 points, best result since June 2014. Data collection for the March issue of the Survey of the trade was carried out between 1 and 23 of the month and earned information of 1,189 companies.