FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Retail sales in the euro area surged unexpectedly in November, buoyed by sales of non-food products, official statistics show on Friday.
Retail sales in the 19 countries that adopted the single currency were up 1% from at least October, when analysts polled by Reuters expected them to fall 0.5%.
Retail sales increased 7.8% compared to the previous year, well above the expected 5.6% increase.
Sales of non-food products increased 1.6% in the month, while sales of fuels declined 1.5%, reversing the trend from the previous month.
(Report Balazs Koranyi; French version Valentine Baldassari, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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