Euro Area Retail Trade Drops by 0.3%

On the heels of discouraging news about unemployment in the eurozone, the European Union has released statistics indicating a slowdown in retail trade. According to data compiled by the bloc's statistical agency Eurostat, the volume of retail trade in February slipped by 0.3% on a month-over-month basis in the 17 nations using the common currency. Much of the decline was due to the non-food sector, which fell by 1.1% over that span of time.

When measured on an annual basis, the overall decline was 1.4% in euro countries.

In the entirety of the 27-member European Union, retail trade was flat when matched against January's figure. On a year-over-year basis, it recorded a slight decline of 0.2%.

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