§ Mr. Traceyasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment he has made of current trends in business confidence.
§ Mr. TebbitSurveys of business opinion suggest that recent high levels of confidence are being maintained. The last CBI quarterly trends survey showed a further widely-based improvement in firms' optimism about the general business situation in their own industries and about their export prospects. The volume of new orders, output and investment is expected to increase further; while profitability and liquidity have risen strongly.