Eurozone retail sales fall in November led by drop in non-food products

Eurozone retail sales decreased in November after rebounding in the previous month, largely led by drop in non-food product purchases.

Retail sales volume fell a seasonally adjusted 0.4 percent month-over-month in November, reversing a 1.4 percent rise in October, which was revised up from a 1.1 percent gain reported earlier, data released by statistics agency Eurostat showed Friday.

Sales of food, drinks and tobacco products dropped 0.4 percent over the month and those of non-food products, except fuel slid by 0.9 percent. On a yearly basis, retail sales growth eased to 2.3 percent in November from 3.0 percent in the prior month, revised from 2.4 percent. However, it was above the 1.9 percent climb expected by economists.

Further, in the EU28, retail sales edged down 0.1 percent monthly in November, while it grew 3.4 percent from a year ago.

Among member states, the highest monthly decreases in total retail trade were noted in Germany, Austria, Portugal and Denmark. Meanwhile, the largest increases were observed in Luxembourg, Estonia, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia.

Meanwhile, the EUR/USD traded at 1.06, down -0.02 percent, while at 11:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly Euro Strength Index remained highly bullish at 100.57 (a reading above +75 indicates a bullish trend, while that below -75 a bearish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex