German retail sales register "horrible" drop in December

Retail sales in the Eurozone's so-called growth engine came to an abrupt halt at the end of 2018, in what some economists described as a "horrible" turnout for the sector.

According to the country's Ministry of Finance, in real and seasonally adjusted terms retail turnover in Germany fell at a month-on-month pace of 4.3% in December.

Economists had forecast a fall of only 0.4%.

Versus a year ago, they were down by 2.1%.

Claus Vistesen, chief Eurozone economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, described Thursday's data as "horrible".

For the fourth quarter as a whole, retail sales were up by 0.1% quarter-on-quarter, following a drop of 0.6% over the previous three months.

Vistesen added: "[...] the German consumer hit a brick wall at the end of 2018.[...] These data are not normally good predictors for consumers’ spending, but they add to evidence that growth in Germany rebounded only marginally in Q4, from the 0.2% contraction in Q3. We think GDP managed only a 0.1% rise."