Italian, Hungarian Retail Sales Up; Polish Jobless Rate Climbs

Arthi Gupta
22 Dec, 2011
New York City

Italian and Hungarian retail sales rose in October and unemployment in Poland increased to 12.1% in November. The Dutch gross domestic product fell in the third quarter by 0.2%.

[R]2:00 PM Frankfurt – Italian and Hungarian retail sales rose in October and unemployment in Poland increased to 12.1% in November. The Dutch gross domestic product fell in the third quarter by 0.2%.[/R]

Italian Retail Sales Up

Italy''s retail sales rose a seasonally adjusted 0.1% on a monthly basis in October, data released by statistics office Istat showed. Retail sales of food articles rose 0.7%, while sales of non-food products declined 0.1% from a month ago in October.

From a year ago, retail sales decreased 1.5% in October.

Hungarian Retail Sales Grows

Hungary''s retail sales grew 0.6% on an annual basis in October, after rising 0.3% in September, data released by the Central Statistics Office showed.

Retail sales of food, beverages and tobacco climbed 0.7% annually, while sales of non-food products rose 2.2% in October.

On a monthly basis, retail sales dropped a seasonally and calendar adjusted 0.1% in October, after remaining flat in September.

Polish Jobless Rate Climbs

Poland''s unemployment rate increased to 12.1% in November from 11.8% in October, data released by the Central Statistics Office showed today. In November 2010, the jobless rate was 11.7%.

The number of unemployed persons increased to around 1.91 million in November from 1.87 million in October.

Dutch Employment Slows, Consumer Spending Falls

Employment in the Netherlands increased 0.3% from a year ago to around 7.93 million in the third quarter, slower than the 0.6% growth in the second quarter, according to data released by the Central Bureau of Statistics.

Separately, the agency said consumer spending in the Netherlands decreased 1.4% annually in October, slower than the 1.9% fall in September.

Consumer spending dropped 3.4% annually, while spending on services edged up 0.4% in October.

Dutch Economy Contracts

The Dutch gross domestic product fell a seasonally and calendar adjusted 0.2% in the third quarter compared to the 0.2% expansion in the second quarter, final data released by the Central Bureau of Statistics showed.

Sweden PPI Rises

Sweden''s producer prices rose 0.8% in November from October, data from Statistics Sweden showed. Producer price annual inflation was 0.3% in November.