German retail sales drop 2.0% in September, far below forecast
German retail sales fell 2.0% month-on-month in September, against expectations of a 0.4% rise, data from Destatis showed. The euro showed little reaction to the miss.
The reading marks a sharp reversal from August, when retail sales rose 1.2% on the month, a figure revised down from an initial 1.3%.
On a yearly basis, sales were down 2.3% in September, compared with a 0.3% annual decline in the previous month, itself revised from -0.4%.
Despite the weaker-than-expected consumer spending data out of Germany, the EUR/USD pair showed little reaction, trading up 0.27% on the day at 1.1188.
Retail sales are a closely watched gauge of household consumption in Germany, the largest economy in the Eurozone, and feed into broader assessments of economic momentum in the currency bloc.
Why it matters for markets: Germany accounts for a large share of Eurozone output, so weak consumer spending can weigh on growth expectations for the bloc and shape views on European Central Bank (ECB) policy, which in turn affects EUR/USD and European equity indices such as the DAX 40 and Euro Stoxx 50.
Source: FXStreet