Global| Jun 03 2010EMU Retail Sales Tail Off Sharply
Summary
Euro-Area Retail sales broke off from their strong upswing and fell sharply in April. The 1.2% drop cut the Yr/Yr growth rate for sales to 1.0%. Meanwhile motor vehicle sales continued to plummet in the Zone and have fallen at a 22% [...]
Euro-Area Retail sales broke off from their strong upswing and fell sharply in April. The 1.2% drop cut the Yr/Yr growth rate for sales to 1.0%. Meanwhile motor vehicle sales continued to plummet in the Zone and have fallen at a 22% pace over three-months and by 5.7% Yr/Yr. Motor Vehicle registrations dropped by 11.4% in April.
Germany and the UK among the early reporters show their sales in April each were up. Germany still shows a Yr/Yr sales decline, however, while UK sales are up by 1.7% Yr/Yr. Overall e-Zone sales have had their upward momentum cut.
Also on the day the revised Services PMI indices were released. The EMU index rose more strongly on revision while the UK index showed a meager increase from the previous month.
On one hand the weakness in retail sales suggests that all the problems in Greece and the knock-on effect on worries may have damaged consumer willingness to spend. We have seen the more topical consumer sentiment indices drop off already. But the services sector numbers tell us that economic improvement is still in train –and in the important job-creating services sector. The reality of the improvement should dominate the ephemeral worries except in those countries where real events are under strain such as Greece and possibly in Spain where the fiscal measures will have some bite. We are still waiting on the actions in other nations.
| Euro-Area Retail Sales | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M/M | Saar | |||||
| Apr-10 | Mar-10 | Feb-10 | 3-Mo | 6-MO | 12-Mo | |
| Zone Total Volume | -1.2% | 0.5% | -0.1% | -3.1% | 1.8% | 1.0% |
| Registrations: | ||||||
| Motor Vehicle Reg | -11.4% | 3.3% | 2.4% | -22.8% | -16.5% | -5.7% |
| NonFood Country detail: Volume | ||||||
| Germany Value | 1.0% | -1.6% | 1.6% | 3.8% | -0.6% | -1.1% |
| UK(EU) Volume | 0.2% | 0.5% | 2.4% | 13.1% | -2.4% | 1.7% |
Robert Brusca
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Robert A. Brusca is Chief Economist of Fact and Opinion Economics, a consulting firm he founded in Manhattan. He has been an economist on Wall Street for over 25 years. He has visited central banking and large institutional clients in over 30 countries in his career as an economist. Mr. Brusca was a Divisional Research Chief at the Federal Reserve Bank of NY (Chief of the International Financial markets Division), a Fed Watcher at Irving Trust and Chief Economist at Nikko Securities International. He is widely quoted and appears in various media. Mr. Brusca holds an MA and Ph.D. in economics from Michigan State University and a BA in Economics from the University of Michigan. His research pursues his strong interests in non aligned policy economics as well as international economics. FAO Economics’ research targets investors to assist them in making better investment decisions in stocks, bonds and in a variety of international assets. The company does not manage money and has no conflicts in giving economic advice.
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