Rising to 86.0 (+3.4 points) in the EU and to 86.2 (+3.4) in the Euro area, ESI improvement in October is the 7th consecutive increase since March 2009, Policy Dialogue International informs Nov. 2 referring to European Commission.

According to the source, the Industry sentiment in the EU rose by 4 points, in the Euro area – by 3, whereas confidence in services increased by 2.

“The quarterly manufacturing survey confirms this positive development. Firms are utilizing their capacity at a slightly higher pace than in the summer (the reading currently stands at 71.4% in the EU and 70.7% in the Euro area), although utilization rates are still far below their respective averages.

Majority of EU Member States registered an improvement. For instance Italy (+3.8), Germany (+3.4), the UK (+3.2) and France (+3.0) posted significant increase in sentiment, while the upsurge was more moderate in Poland (+2.3.), Spain (+1.9) and in the Netherlands (+1.1).

Confidence in financial services (not included in ESI) stabilized in both regions after the strong increase in September, reflecting a minor improvement in business, while expectations of demand decreased slightly,” egovmonitor.com reads.