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The volume of retail trade fell by 0.7% in the Eurozone (EA16) in September and by 0.4% in the EU27. In August retail trade dropped by 0.1% and 0.3% respectively.
In the 12 months to September, the retail sales index decreased by 3.6% in the Eurozone and by 2.5% in the EU27, according to the EU statistics office, Eurostat.
Monthly changes
In September 2009, “Food, drinks and tobacco” declined by 0.9% in the Eurozone and by 0.5% in the EU27. The non food sector fell by 0.6% and 0.3% respectively.
Among the member states for which data are available, total retail trade rose in six and fell in eleven. The highest increases were observed in Austria (+2.5%) and Slovakia (+1.1%), and the largest decreases in Lithuania (-7.6%), Estonia (-2.4%) and Portugal (-2.0%).
Annual changes
In thye 12 months to September, “Food, drinks and tobacco” fell by 2.3% in the Eurozone and by 1.1% in the EU27. The non food sector declined by 4.1% and 2.5% respectively.
Among the member states for which data are available, total retail trade rose in four and fell in thirteen. The highest increases were observed in Poland (+5.4%) and Austria (+3.1%), and the largest decreases in Latvia (-30.9%), Lithuania (-25.7%) and Estonia (-20.8%).
Irish sales fell 1.7% in August and were down 3.8% in the year to August.
The Eurozone (EA16) includes Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland.
The EU27 includes Belgium (BE), Bulgaria (BG), the Czech Republic (CZ), Denmark (DK), Germany (DE), Estonia (EE), Ireland (IE), Greece (EL), Spain (ES), France (FR), Italy (IT), Cyprus (CY), Latvia (LV), Lithuania (LT), Luxembourg (LU), Hungary (HU), Malta (MT), the Netherlands (NL), Austria (AT), Poland (PL), Portugal (PT), Romania (RO), Slovenia (SI), Slovakia (SK), Finland (FI), Sweden (SE) and the United Kingdom (UK).
President Barack Obama's remarks on the economy and announces he will host a jobs summit next month:
US jobless claims
US initial weekly jobless benefit claims dipped last week.
Claims fell by 12,000 to 502,000 in the week ended Nov. 7th, the lowest level since January, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington.
The number of people receiving jobless benefits dropped, as did those getting continuing payments.
The four-week moving average of claims, a less volatile measure, dropped to 519,750, the lowest level in almost a year, from 524,250.
Continuing claims dropped by 139,000 to 5.63 million in the week ended Oct. 31th, from 5.77 million the prior week.
The US is likely to have to borrow substantially less than initially anticipated as banks are repaying the government funds they received during the crisis with interest and significant repayments are ahead, US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told CNBC Thursday:
Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer today reported a 9% annual rise in quarterly underlying profit at its international businesses, outperforming its US operations due to to strong growth in the UK, Mexico and Brazil.
The retailer, which has over 100 million shoppers a year from over 8,000 stores in 15 countries, said international profits rose to $1.29 billion in the three months to the end of October.
International sales were up 12.1% to $27.9 billion.
Wal-Mart, has a payroll of more than two million people and has just under a quarter of its sales outside the US, reported a rise in quarterly group profit, but also warned that fourth-quarter earnings might miss estimates.
Overall earnings for the third quarter rose to $3.23 billion, or 84 cents per share, from $3.14 billion, or 80 cents per share, a year earlier.
UK unit Asda posted a 5.6% rise in sales at stores open at least a year, excluding petrol and VAT sales tax, for the three months ended September 30th.
US markets
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is off 10 points, or 0.1%, to 10,280.
"I think that recovery is coming back," Dominique Strauss-Kahn, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, told CNBC Thursday when discussing the outlook for the US economy. "Even so, the crisis is not over," he added.
Oil
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, oil for December delivery is trading at $77.69 down $1.59 from Wednesday's close. In London, Brent crude for December delivery is trading at $76.60 a barrel.
Currencies
The euro is trading at $1.4876 and at £0.8997.
For live currency updates, check the right-hand column of the Finfacts home page.The dollar traded at a record low $1.6038 per euro on July 15, 2008.
