+

Cookies on the Business Insider India website

Business Insider India has updated its Privacy and Cookie policy. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the better experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we\'ll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies on the Business Insider India website. However, you can change your cookie setting at any time by clicking on our Cookie Policy at any time. You can also see our Privacy Policy.

Close
HomeQuizzoneWhatsappShare Flash Reads
 

Eurozone retail sales just slumped unexpectedly for the second month running

Dec 3, 2015, 15:32 IST

Shoppers queue outside Selfridges on the morning of the Boxing Day sales in London December 26, 2012.REUTERS/Olivia Harris

It's a whopper of a day for European economic data.

Advertisement

First, we got some miserable but widely expected news from France - unemployment has reached its highest level in nearly two decades, and it's now above the European average.

Secondly, service sector purchasing managers' index (PMI) business surveys were slightly worse than expected in November.

The main event is the European Central Bank's policy decision at 12:45 p.m. GMT (7:45 a.m. ET), followed by the press conference 45 minutes later.

But before then, we've got eurozone retail sales - which were worse than expected. Sales declined by 0.1% from September, the second unexpected dip in a row.

Advertisement

Analysts were expecting an increase of 0.2% month-on-month, and for sales to be up by 2.7% year-on-year. The year-on-year figure actually came in at 2.5%.

You can see the general improvement in retail sales since the eurozone exited its recession in mid-2013 on this chart from Eurostat - but you can also see a bit of a dip over the last few months. It's not yet clear whether that's going to be a sustained dip, or just a brief wobble:

Eurostat

NOW WATCH: JAMES ALTUCHER: The American Dream is a lie

Please enable Javascript to watch this video
Next Article