Eurozone retail sales showed stagnation for the second straight month in May, data from Eurostat revealed Thursday.
Retail sales remained unchanged on a monthly basis in May, the same as in April. In March, sales dropped 0.4 percent.
Meanwhile, economists had forecast sales to rise by 0.2 percent.?
Food, drink, and tobacco sales declined 0.5 percent, while non-food product turnover increased 0.1 percent. Sales of automotive fuel in specialized stores slid 0.3 percent.
Data showed that sales via mail order and the internet logged a monthly decline of 0.9 percent.
On a yearly basis, retail turnover declined at a stable rate of 2.9 percent in May. The expected fall was 2.7 percent.
Retail sales in the EU27 edged down 0.1 percent monthly and declined 3.0 percent from the same period last year.
Among member states, the largest yearly decreases were seen in Slovenia, Hungary, and Estonia, while the highest increases were observed in Spain, Cyprus, and Malta.
