- Germany July retail sales -3.4% vs +0.4% m/m expected
- Prior -0.7%; revised to 0.0%
Death, taxes, and German economic data disappointing on estimates. What else is new. This is another really poor reading, though it is exacerbated by a positive revision to the June figure. But still, it’s a very poor start to consumer sentiment in the third quarter to say the least.
In real terms, German retail sales in July is down 2.5% compard to the same month a year ago. That is a sharp decline from it being 0.6% higher comparatively back in June.
Looking at the details, the big drop in July comes as we see the end of the fuel discount that was in effect during May and June. Of note, petrol station sales declined heavily by 9.1% in real terms on the month. While petrol station sales also include sales in the petrol station shops, it is quite evident that the fuel discount was the big factor in all of this.
Besides that, food sales were also down 0.8% in real terms on the month with non-food retailing also dropping notably by 4.8% in real terms on the month.
All in all, it’s just a bad showing all around as households definitely pulled back on spending in July it would seem.
This article was written by Justin Low at investinglive.com.