Euro Zone Retail Sales Drop, German Output Declines 1.8%

Arthi Gupta
07 Nov, 2012
New York City

Retail sales volume in the euro area decreased and Spanish industrial production slumped in September. German construction activity fell at an accelerated rate and Swiss consumer prices eased in October.

[R]2:30 PM Frankfurt – Retail sales volume in the euro area decreased and Spanish industrial production slumped in September. German construction activity fell at an accelerated rate and Swiss consumer prices eased in October.[/R]

Euro Zone Retail Sales Drop

Retail sales volume in the euro area decreased 0.2% from a month ago in September following a 0.2% rise in August, data released by statistics office Eurostat showed.

Sales of non-food products decreased 0.6% sequentially in September.

Retail sales in EU27 climbed 0.1% on a monthly basis in September, after remaining stable in August, data showed.

In September, compared to a year ago the retail sales index fell 0.8% in the euro area and increased 0.3% in the EU27.

German Construction, Industrial Output Fall

German construction activity fell at an accelerated rate in October with the civil engineering subsector showing particular weakness over the month data from a survey by Markit Economics showed today.

The seasonally adjusted purchasing managers'' index for the construction sector dropped to 44.6 in October from 48.6 in September.

Separately, Germany''s industrial production declined 1.8% in September from a month ago, following a 0.4% decline in August, the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology said today.

Swedish Deficit Rises

Swedish central government payments resulted in a deficit of SEK 14.2 billion in October. This was SEK 1.7 billion higher than the Debt Office''s latest forecast, a deficit of SEK 12.5 billion. The difference is mainly explained by lower tax income, according to the National Debt Office.

Swiss Consumer Prices Ease

Switzerland''s consumer price index eased 0.2% on an annual basis in October from 0.4% in September, data released by the statistics office showed.

On a monthly basis, the consumer prices increased 0.1% in October.

Spanish Production Slumps

Spanish industrial production dropped 7% annually on a working day adjusted basis in September, following a 2.5% drop in August, data released by statistics office Ine showed.

Production of consumer good decreased 11.7% annually in September.