Eurozone retail sales growth slows in June
Retail sales across the Eurozone only slightly increased in June, data from Markit showed on Monday, with growth slowing down from a 49-month high in May.
The Markit Eurozone retail purchasing managers’ index, which tracks like-for-like retail sales across the bloc’s three-largest economies, fell to just 50.4 last month.
This was only marginally ahead of the break-even mark of 50 and down from 51.4 the month before.
Nevertheless, this was still the first back-to-back monthly rise in sales for the first time over four years.
Italy acted as the main drag on the headline survey in June, with the country’s PMI falling to a three-month low of 46.7, while the German sub-index declined to a two-month low of 54. Meanwhile, the downturn in France eased with the PMI increasing to a 13-month high of 48.9.
“Growth eased and was only marginal in June, however, with both Italy and – to a lesser extent – France continuing to act as drags. France’s decrease was in fact its weakest in 13 months. Germany was the driving force behind higher sales, recording its ninth straight monthly expansion and its best quarter of growth since Q3 2013,” said Markit economist Phil Smith.