European Zone Retail Sales Fall In September! Is This A Bad Sign?

<p>&nbsp;European zone retail sales fell roughly in line with expectations in September, based on data released on Wednesday. This leads to indications of weak consumer demand and the prospect of a recession.</p><p><br /></p><p>The European Union's statistics department, Eurostat, said retail sales in the 20 countries that share the euro currency fell 0.3% month-on-month and 2.9% year-on-year in September.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Economists polled by Reuters had expected a decline of 0.2% on the month and 3.1% year-on-year. The monthly decline was mainly due to a large drop in sales of non-food products, including online sales, both down 1.9% from August. Automotive fuel sales were also down 0.9%.</p><p><br /></p><p>Year-on-year, fuel sales have also declined sharply, as have online purchases.</p><p><br /></p><p>The European zone's economy shrank by 0.1% in the three months to September, based on data released last week, and a purchasing managers' questionnaire showed that the fourth quarter started weakly.</p>