German retail sales posted their biggest monthly fall in two and half years in July, data released Friday showed.
Sales in Europe’s biggest economy slumped 1.4 per cent from June, when they had risen by 1 per cent on the previous month, the statistics office said.
The July drop represents the biggest monthly fall since January 2012.
Analysts had expected sales to stagnate.
Year on year, July retail sales climbed by 0.7 per cent, the statistics office said.
Consumers’ concerns about the economic fallout from global tensions such as the conflict in eastern Ukraine overshadowed any pickup in sales resulting from the national euphoria generated by Germany’s football World Cup win on July 13.
The release of the retail sales data followed the publication this week of a survey showing German consumer confidence falling for the first time since the start of the year.
Consumer confidence in the country will fall to a lower—than—forecast 8.6 points in September from a downwardly revised August reading of 8.9 points, the Nuremberg—based GfK research group said, releasing its forward—looking indicator.