Brussels, 29/11/2002 (Agence Europe) - On Friday, the European Commission announced a slight fall in confidence among business operators in the Euro-zone in November with an accompanying but apparently paradoxical increase in the business climate. . In the Euro area, the indicator decreased by 0.2 percentage points to 98.6, from 98.8 in October and 98.9 in September. The indicator's fall is basically due to a drop of 2 points in consumer confidence to -14. In industry, however, the indicator rose by 1 point to -10 in November as opposed to -11 in October. Th industrial confidence indicator can be located in the Business Climate Indicator for the month of November, which has been rising for three months from -0.36 to -0.43 in October. This level has not been attained for six months. The Commission was pleased with the improvement in the indicator, which is certainly modest but stable. It considers that this upturn is essentially due to an improvement in opinions about forecast production trends, as well as an increase in total order books. Export order books and finished products stocks remained unchanged.