Eurozone retail sales fall 1.1% in December
Eurozone retail sales fell 1.1% month-on-month in December, according to European Union statistics agency Eurostat, capping off a tough twelve months for consumers.
December's reading was slightly worse than the 1.0% drop expected by economists, with retail food sales down 1.6% on the month, while non-food retail sales were down 1.0%.
On the year, Eurozone retail sales fell by 0.8, while EU sales were down 0.7%.
Annually, the volume of retail trade decreased by 6.2% for automotive fuels, and 1% for food, drinks and tobacco, while it grew 0.1% for non-food products.
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com