Euro area retail sales remained unchanged in April after falling in the previous two months, preliminary data from Eurostat showed Tuesday. Retail sales was unchanged from March, when they fell 0.4 percent from the previous month, which was revised from a 1.2 percent decrease. Economists were looking for a 0.2 percent growth. Sales of food, drinks and tobacco were lower for a third month in a row and logged a decline of 0.5 percent.
Meanwhile, sales of non-food products excluding automotive fuel grew 0.5 percent after a 0.9 percent decline in March.
Mail order and internet sales rose 2.7 percent following a 1.3 percent decline in the previous month.
Sales of automotive fuel in specialized stores fell 2.3 percent after gaining 1.1 percent in March.
On a year-on-year basis, retail sales decreased 2.6 percent in Eurozone after a revised 3.3 percent slump in March. Economists had forecast a 3.1 percent fall. In the EU, retail sales edged up 0.1 percent on a monthly basis following a revised 0.5 percent decline in March. Compared to the same month last year, EU retail sales shrunk 2.9 percent in April after a revised 3.7 percent decline in the previous month. The biggest monthly increases in retail sales were registered in Croatia, Luxembourg and Sweden, while the worst declines were seen in Slovakia, Romania and Slovenia.
