Euro Area Retail Sales Improve; German Factory Orders Rise

Arthi Gupta
07 Jun, 2011
New York City

Euro area retail sales improved in April and German factory orders rose in April and service sector employment growth slackened in the first quarter. Norwegian jobless rate declined and Swiss inflation increased in May. Hungarian industrial production slowed in April.

[R]1:30 PM Frankfurt – Euro area retail sales improved in April and German factory orders rose in April and service sector employment growth slackened in the first quarter. Norwegian jobless rate declined and Swiss inflation increased in May. Hungarian industrial production slowed in April.[/R]

Euro Area Retail Sales Improve

Euro-zone retail sales rose 0.9% on a monthly basis in April compared to a 0.9% drop in March, data from Eurostat showed today.

On a yearly comparison, retail trade climbed 1.1% in April compared to a 1.7% drop in March.

In EU27, retail sales rose 1.1% on a monthly basis, lifting the annual growth to 1.9% in April.

The highest annual increases were observed in Estonia, Luxembourg and Lithuania. Malta, Romania and Portugal reported the largest declines.

Bulgarian Retail Sales Fall

Bulgaria''s retail sales, excluding automobiles, dropped a seasonally adjusted 0.2% on a monthly basis in April, slower than the 0.4% decrease recorded in March, data released by the National Statistics Institute showed.

Retail sales of food, beverages and tobacco declined 0.3%, while sales of non-food products edged lower 0.1% during the month.

On a yearly basis, retail sales increased a working day adjusted 0.5% in April, after rising 1.4% in March.

German Orders Rise, Services Employment Slackens

Germany factory orders increased 2.8% on a monthly basis in April, following a 2.7% fall in March, the Federal Ministry of Economy and Technology said on Tuesday.

Employment in the service sector increased at a slower pace in the first quarter, data released by the Federal Statistics Office showed today.

The number of persons employed in the service sector rose 4.1% on an annual basis in the first quarter, slower than the 4.4% annual increase recorded in the fourth quarter. The pace of employment growth slowed for the second consecutive quarter.

Norwegian Jobless Rate Drops, Sentiment Weakens

Norway''s registered unemployed decreased 5,900 in May from the previous year to 64,700, Norwegian Labor and Welfare Service showed on Tuesday.

The jobless rate was 2.5%, and in Oslo, the unemployment rate was 3.1%.

Norwegian consumer sentiment weakened in the second quarter as households turned less optimistic about the economic prospects, according to data released by the Finance Norway and survey group TNS Gallup today.

The consumer sentiment indicator was at 27.7, up from a revised 29.2 in the first quarter. The previous quarter''s figure was revised down from 30.3 reported initially.

Romanian Construction Production Slides

Romania''s construction production declined 5.1% annually in April, data released by the National Institute of Statistics showed. Output in the construction of residential buildings plunged 31.2% annually, while civil engineering construction dropped 0.6% in April.

Swiss Inflation Up

Switzerland''s annual consumer price inflation rose to 0.4% in May from 0.3% in April, the Federal Statistics Office said on Tuesday.

On a monthly comparison, consumer prices remained flat, following a 0.1% rise in April.

Food and non-alcoholic beverages rose 0.8% on a monthly basis and clothing and footwear prices gained 0.6%.

Hungarian Industrial Production Slows

Hungary''s industrial production increased 6.9% annually in April compared to 9.2% growth in March, data released by the Central Statistics Office showed. The latest growth was the smallest since March a year ago when output rose 4.2%.

On a monthly-basis, industrial production moved up a seasonally and working day adjusted 0.5% in April, after decreasing 3.6% in March.