Euro Area Retail Sales Fall; Service Sector Contracts

Arthi Gupta
05 Oct, 2011
New York City

Euro-zone retail sales fell in August and composite PMI declined in September. Service sector activity dropped in Germany, Italy and Spain in the month. French private sector contracted in September.

[R]1:45 PM Frankfurt – Euro-zone retail sales fell in August and composite PMI declined in September. Service sector activity dropped in Germany, Italy and Spain in the month. French private sector contracted in September.[/R]

Euro-zone Retail Sales, Composite PMI Fall

Euro-zone retail sales declined 0.3% on a monthly basis in August, reversing a 0.2% rise in July, according to the Eurostat data released today.

Sale of food products edged higher 0.1% in August compared to a decrease of 0.7% in July. Non-food product sales dipped 0.6% in August offsetting the 0.5% growth in July.

On a yearly basis, retail sales fell 1% in August, following a 0.4% drop in July.

Separately, euro-zone''s composite output index fell slightly more than initially expected in September, final data from Markit Economics showed.

The composite output index fell to 49.1, signaling first contraction in private sector activity since July 2009, from 50.7 in August. The flash estimate for September was 49.2.

German Service Sector Activity Drops

Germany''s service sector activity dropped in September, final data from a survey by Markit Economics showed.

The seasonally adjusted business activity index for the services sector was at 49.7 in September, lower than 50.3 reported in the flash estimates and the reading of 51.1 in August. The decline marks over two years of continuous growth in the sector.

Italian Service Sector Slides

The purchasing manages'' index for the services sector for Italy dropped to 45.8 in September from 48.4 in August, data from a survey by Markit Economics and ADACI showed. The latest reading was the lowest since July 2009.

Spanish Service Sector Contracts

Spain''s service sector activity contracted further in September, according to data from Markit Economics released today.

The headline seasonally adjusted Purchasing Managers'' Index dropped to 44.8 in September from 45.2 in August.

French Private Sector Activity at 26-month Low

French private sector growth eased to its weakest level in 26 months in September, the latest survey results from Markit Economics showed on Wednesday.

The final composite output index, that measures activity in both manufacturing and services, fell to 50.2 in September from 53.7 in August. The September reading was below the flash estimate of 50.7.