Swiss retail sales decline in September despite firm demand, stays in line with consensus

Retail sales in the United Kingdom declined during the month of September despite a firm demand prevailing in the market; however, it stayed in line with what markets had initially anticipated.

Swiss retail sales, in real terms, fell 2.3 percent in the year to September following a decline of 2.8 percent the previous month, which was originally reported as a 3.0 percent decline. The data was in line with expectations and there has been a consistent series of negative releases since the beginning of 2015 as a strong franc undermines domestic sales.

In real term, there was a 0.2 percent increase in sales from the previous month. Excluding service stations, there was also a monthly increase of 0.2 percent with an increase in food sales of 0.4 percent, while non-food sales fell 0.5 percent. There was a net recovery in service station sales as fuel prices increased on the month.

Further, food and drink sales rose 0.2 percent in real terms from the previous year, while there was a 4.4 percent decline in non-food sales. There was also a further improvement in the Swiss PMI index, which will bolster confidence in the overall economic outlook.

Meanwhile, there was no significant market impact with EUR/CHF holding just below 1.0850 with USD/CHF dipping to 0.9870 on a wider dollar pull-back.