Swiss retail turnover falls in October, better than market consensus

Retail sales in Switzerland fell during the month of October, albeit remaining better than what markets had initially anticipated.

Turnover in the retail sector fell by 0.9 percent in nominal terms in October 2016 compared with the previous year. This decline has been ongoing since January 2015. Seasonally adjusted, nominal turnover rose by 1.3 percent compared with the previous month, data released by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) showed Thursday.

Real turnover in the retail sector also adjusted for sales days and holidays fell by 0.5 percent in October 2016 compared with the previous year. Real growth takes inflation into consideration. Compared with the previous month, real, seasonally adjusted retail trade turnover registered an increase of 1.2 percent.

Further,  adjusted for sales days and holidays, the retail sector excluding service stations showed a 1.0 percent decrease in nominal turnover in October 2016 compared with October 2015 (in real terms -0.6 percent).

Meanwhile, retail sales of food, drinks and tobacco registered an increase in nominal turnover of 0.1 percent (in real terms -0.4 percent), whereas the non-food sector registered a nominal negative of 1.8 percent (in real terms - 0.6 percent).

Meanwhile, the USD/CHF currency pair is has formed a bearish pattern in an uptrend at 1.01, down -0.20 percent.