Economic data for Germany this morning began with some mixed news followed by much improved data from the German Statistics Office. On the retail sales front, according to the report, on a month-to-month November retail sales improved beyond analysts’ expectations, rising to 0.7% and besting the consensus call of 0.1%. The data was also well above October’s 0.3%, which was upwardly revised from (negative) -2.9%. Comparatively, though, against the same period a year ago, retail sales declined to (negative) -0.4%, well off the estimate of a 2.0% improvement.
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