Eurozone retail sales inched higher in January

(Sharecast News) - Retail sales in the eurozone rebounded slightly in January while December's decline was revised upwards, according to figures out on Wednesday from Eurostat. Sales volumes improved by just 0.1% in the first month of the year, as expected by economists after a 0.6% fall in December, which was adjusted from the initial reading of a 1.1% decline.

However, compared with January 2023, sales were down 1.0% with the annual decline accelerating from a revised 0.5% the month before.

Month-on-month, sales of food, drinks and tobacco gained 1.0%, and automotive fuel rose 1.7%, outweighing a 0.2% drop in non-food products.

The highest monthly growth rates were seen in Luxembourg (+7.6%), Romania (+3.8%) and Cyprus (+1.5%), while the largest falls were seen in Estonia (-2.6%), Slovakia (-1.0%) and Latvia (-0.8%).

Commenting on the data, economist Alexander Valentin from Oxford Economics said: "Despite today's marginal uptick, retail sales are close to the lows last seen in April 2021. We expect another decline this quarter before a gradual recovery ensues over the course of this year on the back of real income gains."