The results of Transport Intelligence’s latest Global Logistics Business Confidence Index show a significant return of optimism to the market. Although the index weakened slightly in April from +1.05 to -4.43, there was far morepositive sentiment about the future.

Overall the index assessing confidence in the state of the market in twelve months time moved from a score of -26 in February to +4 in April. This contrasts strongly with the results in February and March whenrespondents expressed overwhelmingly negative expectations of the future, thereports authors said.

“The rebound in confidence over the past month has been significant,” according to chief executive of Transport Intelligence, John Manners-Bell.

“However, although industry executives are feeling more confident about the future, present market conditions continue to weaken, albeit slightly. It is too early to call an upturn, but similarly we should not be blind to the positive sentiment our index reveals,” he added.

Among the findings, respondents perceived the North American market to be the weakest of all the regions, but also expect it to see the biggest bounce back with the index showing the highest expectation of market strength in twelve months time.

Asia Pacific and Western European respondents are now also much more confident about the future, whereas respondents from Central & Eastern Europe were the gloomiest, expecting their markets to weaken significantly over thenext twelve months.