Eurozone retail sales sink 1.2% in August

Retail sales in the Eurozone sank more than expected in August, according to Eurostat, as fuel sales dropped sharply.

The seasonally adjusted volume of retail trade was down 1.2% during the month, after a 0.1% decline in July, revised up from the 0.2% drop initially reported.

Analysts were expecting a fall of just 0.3% in August.

Fuel sales dropped 3% during the month, while food, drinks and tobacco sales were down 1.2% and non-food products sales slipped 0.9%.

As such, the year-on-year change in sales dropped to -2.1% in August, significantly worse than the 1% decrease in July and the -1.2% consensus forecast.

The worst annual declines were experienced in Slovenia (-21.5%), Belgium (-8.5%) and Estonia (-7.9%), while the strongest increases were seen in Luxembourg (+8.7%), Spain (+8.1%) and Cyprus (+5.9%).