Euro Area Retail Sales Fall; Spain Unemployment Declines

Arthi Gupta
04 May, 2011
New York City

Euro-zone composite PMI rose modestly in April but retail sales fell more than estimated in March. France service sector expanded at a faster pace in April. Spain unemployment declined significantly in April. Norwegian retail sales volume dropped 5.2% rate in March.

[R]1:00 PM Frankfurt – Euro-zone composite PMI rose modestly in April but retail sales fell more than estimated in March. France service sector expanded at a faster pace in April. Spain unemployment declined significantly in April. Norwegian retail sales volume dropped 5.2% rate in March.[/R]

Euro-zone Composite PMI Rises

Euro-zone private sector growth improved slightly in April, data released by the Markit Economics showed today.

The final composite Purchasing Managers'' Index rose to 57.8 in April, in line with flash estimate, from 57.6 in March.

German Private Sector Growth Drops

Germany''s private sector growth slowed at a faster-than-expected rate in April, final survey data released by Markit Economics and BME showed on Wednesday.

The Composite Output Index that measures the combined output of the manufacturing and service sectors, dropped to 59.2 in April from 60.4 in March.

France Service Sector Activity Expands

French service sector expanded at a faster pace in April, final data from Markit Economics showed.

The service activity index rose to 62.9 in April from 60.4 in March. The reading was revised down from the flash estimate of 63.4. The latest score was the highest since September 2000, Markit said.

Italy''s Service Sector Growth Eases

Italy''s service sector growth slowed more than expected in April, Markit Economics said on Wednesday. The seasonally adjusted Markit/ADACI Business Activity Index declined to 52.2 in April from 53.3 in March.

Spanish Service Sector Activity Rebounds

Spanish service sector activity expanded at a modest pace in April, recovering from a contraction in the previous month, a survey by Markit Economics showed on Wednesday.

The headline seasonally adjusted business activity index rose to 50.4 in April from 48.7 in March.

Euro Area Retail Sales Slide

Euro-zone retail sales declined 1% in March following February''s 0.3% rise, data published by the Eurostat showed today.

Annually, retail trade dipped 1.7% in March, reversing February’s 1.3% growth.

Sales of food, drink and tobacco slipped 0.6% on a monthly basis in March compared to a 0.1% rise in February. Non-food product sales declined 1.1% in March, after increasing 0.5% in February.

Norwegian Retail Sales Drop, Jobless Rate Falls

Norway''s retail sales volume, excluding sale of automobiles, declined 5.2% annually in March, after 2.5% gain in February, data released by Statistics Norway showed on Wednesday.

On a monthly basis, retail sales dropped a seasonally-adjusted 0.6% in March.

Separately, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for Norway dropped to 3.1% in February from 3.3% in January, which was revised up from 3.2%, data released by Statistics Norway showed. The latest rate is the lowest since June 2009, when it was 3 percent.

The total number of jobless in February was 82,000, down from 85,000 in January.

Spain Unemployment Declines

Spanish registered unemployment declined significantly in April, data from the Labor Ministry showed today.

The number of people claiming for jobless benefits in Spain decreased 64,309 persons or 1.48% in April from the previous month, representing the biggest fall for April since 2006. The registered unemployment totaled 4,269,360.

From April 2010, unemployment increased 126,935 persons or 3.06%.