- Howard Archer, chief European economist at IHS Global Insight
Retail sales across the 17 European Union countries that use the single currency fell more than expected in October, adding to concerns that the economy may struggle to pull out of a recession. Sales dropped 1.2% from a month ago, when they fell 0.6%, the EU's statistics office Eurostat said Wednesday. It is the biggest decline since April, when retail sales lost 1.5%. A slump in the data signals that households in the region still remain gloomy over the economic outlook and are reluctant to spend more money.
"The prospects for consumer spending in the eurozone look troubling in the near term at least given very low consumer confidence, high and rising unemployment, generally muted wage growth and tightening fiscal policy in many countries," said Howard Archer, chief European economist at IHS Global Insight.
Also Wednesday, the London-based Markit Economics said that services and manufacturing output in the Eurozone shrank for a tenth consecutive month in November. Eurozone Services PMI rose to 46.7 last month, up from 45.7 in the preceding month. Any reading below 50 indicates contraction in the sector, while any reading above signals about the expansion.
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