Source: Sharecast
According to Eurostat, the official statistical office of the European Union, the volume of retail trade fell by 0.1%. Consensus has been for a 0.2% uplift.
Across the wider EU, volumes were unchanged.
Driving the fall in the Eurozone was a 1.0% decline in automotive fuel in specialised stores. Non-food products excluding automotive fuel were 0.2% weaker, but food, drinks and tobacco were stable.
Among individual member states, retail sales ticked 0.2% higher in Germany, the bloc's biggest economy, helping to reverse August’s 0.6% decline.
In Spain they rose 0.4%, but fell 0.1% in France and 0.6% in Italy.
Year-on-year, retail sales were 1.0% higher in the Eurozone, down on the 1.6% annual growth seen in August but in line with expectations.
In the EU as a whole, sales were 1.3% stronger year-on-year.
Bert Colijn, chief economist, Netherlands, at ING, said: “Despite positive wage growth and some recovery in consumer confidence, the Eurozone’s shopping streets are yet to benefit.
“It does remain somewhat of a puzzle. While we’d typically assume a correlation between cautious consumers and low consumer confidence, this is contradicted by the rebound in the latter measure over recent months.”
