German retail sales miss forecast in October

German retail sales suffered an unexpected decline in October, figures released on Monday showed.

According to Destatis, the Federal Statistics Office, retail sales fell 0.4% month-on-month after stagnating in September and falling short of analysts’ expectations for a 0.4% gain.

On a year-on-year basis, retail sales grew 2.1% but remained short of the 2.9% consensus forecast and comfortably below the 3.5% year-on-year increase registered in the previous month.

However, from January to August, retail sales surged 2.8% year-on-year in real terms, the biggest increase on record for the period since the Federal Statistics Office began collecting data in 1994.

"People keep spending money because their job situation is good, and the record-influx of refugees also increases demand," Destatis said in a statement.