Eurozone retail sales rebound, unemployment holds at record high

  • 10 years ago
Retail sales in the eurozone leapt in November hinting at a pick up in consumer demand.

The rebound was the biggest monthly increase in 12 years .

However the recovery has yet to affect the labour market. Unemployment in the region remaining at a record high in November .. at 12.1 percent of the workforce for eighth month in row.

Demand that has been weakened across the bloc by high rates of unemployment.

Month-on-month sales rose 1.4 percent, compared with falls of 0.6 percent and 0.4 percent in September and October.

Year-on-year retail sales were up 1.6 percent in the eurozone.

They rose strongly in the bloc’s two largest economies, Germany and France, by 1.5 and 2.1 percent respectively

On Tuesday we learned of a surprise drop in eurozone inflation to 0.8 percent in December, well below the European Central Bank’s target of just under 2.0 percent.

It was the third straight month in which the reading was below 1.0 percent, a level the ECB, which holds its monthly monetar

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