Eurozone retail sales miss expectations, fall unexpectedly in Dec

Data published by Eurostat on Friday showed that Eurozone retail sales fell unexpectedly by 0.3 percent month-on-month in December, widely missing analysts' forecasts for a 0.3 percent increase. Data compared to a revised 0.6 percent drop in November.

On a yearly basis, retail sales growth eased to 2.3 percent from 3.8 percent in the previous month. This was the weakest growth in three months. Automotive fuel sales declined 1.1 percent due to higher prices. Food sales slid 0.4 percent from November, while non-food product sales remained flat in December.

The fall in monthly retail sales data reflects weakness in consumer spending amid rising inflation. The weakness could be a sign of caution among consumers in times of elevated political uncertainty.

"Disappointing sales figure for December is not completely alarming as sales are likely to expand in the quarter due to strong performance in October," ING Senior economist Bert Colijn said.

Among Member States the highest increases in the total retail trade volume were observed in Luxembourg (+14.7 percent), Slovenia (+10.1 percent), Romania (+7.9 percent) and the United Kingdom (+6.6 percent), while decreases were observed in Finland (-2.2 percent), Germany (-1.1 percent), Denmark and Austria (both -1.0 percent) as well as Malta (-0.7 percent).