Business

Eurozone retail sales slump in October

By Pan Pylas
Published December 5, 2012 1:06pm ET
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Eurozone retail sales slump in October
A man inspects inside a food bank full of cardboard boxes with more than 70 tons of foods to distribute to people left needy by Spain's critical economic crisis, in Pamplona, northern Spain, Tuesday Dec. 4, 2012. The number of people officially registered as unemployed in Spain has edged up toward 5 million as the country's recession shows few signs of abating and its struggling banks await crucial bailout cash, Spain's Labor Ministry said Tuesday. (AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos) | Alvaro Barrientos

LONDON (AP) — Retail sales across the 17 European Union countries that use the euro slumped far more than anticipated in October, largely due to a huge drop in Germany, in a development that will put more pressure on the European Central Bank to cut borrowing rates soon.

Eurostat, the EU’s statistics office, said Wednesday that eurozone retail sales fell 1.2 percent in October from the previous month, double September’s decline and substantially more than the 0.2 percent drop expected in the markets

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