The European Commission reported on Tuesday that the recovery of euro area and economic sentiment continued in September.

According to the report, the Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) for the euro area increased 3.6 points to 91.1, recovering nearly 70% of the combined losses of March and April. Economists had forecast the ESI to increase to 89 from 87.7 in August.

The ESI’s continued recovery was driven by further fading pessimism in industry (to -11.1 in September from -12.8 in august), retail trade (to -8.7 from -10.5), construction (to -9.6 from -11.8) and, in particular, services (to -11.1 from -17.2). To a lesser extent, confidence also improved among consumers (to -13.9 from -14.7).

From a country perspective, the ESI continued to recover in all the largest euro-area economies, namely in Italy (+8.4), France (+5.8), the Netherlands (+2.1), Spain (+1.6) and Germany (+1.2).

The euro area’s Employment Expectations Indicator (EEI) rose 2.3 points to 91.8 in September, recording increase for the fifth straight month and reflecting further improving employment plans in all four business sectors.