Press Release: October 2005: Strong upturn of economic sentiment in both the EU and the euro area

Economic sentiment continued to improve in October 2005, both in the EU and in the euro area. At 1.7 points in the EU and 1.9 points in the euro area the improvement was stronger than in previous months, indicating that the economy had overcome the soft patch between autumn of 2004 and June 2005. In both areas, the upturn in October lifted the economic sentiment indicator (ESI) above the long-term average of 100.