Retailers in the euro zone saw sales improve slightly in January, driven by stronger consumer activity in regional powerhouse Germany, official EU data shows today.
The volume of retail trade in the euro zone rose 0.4% in January from December while slipping 0.1% over 12 months, the European Union's Eurostat data agency said.
Economists had forecast retail sales would rise 0.2% over one month and nudge up 0.1% over one year.
The January data marked an improvement from December when sales fell 0.1% from November and were down 1.8% year-on-year.
The improvement in January was driven by a pick-up in Germany where sales rose 1.6% over one month and 0.6% over one year after a slump at the start of 2007 when a sales tax hike took effect.
Retail sales in the 27-nation EU as a whole rose 0.6% in January over one month and increased 1.8% on the year.
