German Retail Sales Fall Unexpectedly

(RTTNews) - Germany's retail sales declined unexpectedly in July on weaker food and non-food store sales, data from Destatis revealed Tuesday.

Retail sales posted a monthly fall of 3.4 percent after remaining flat in June and confounding expectations for an increase of 0.4 percent in July.

On a yearly basis, retail sales dropped 2.5 percent, in contrast to the 0.6 percent increase in June.

Sales at petrol stations declined 9.1 percent from the prior month. Retail sales of food products decreased 0.8 percent and non-food retail sales slid 4.8 percent in July.

Online and mail-order sales decreased 5.6 percent compared to the previous month, data showed.