FRANKFURT (Reuters) -Euro zone retail sales grew quicker than thought in June, data showed on Wednesday, reinforcing views that the bloc remains resilient to trade uncertainty thanks to the continued rebound in domestic consumption.
Retail sales in the 20 nations sharing the euro currency expanded by 3.1% in June from a year earlier, well above the 2.6% seen by economists in a Reuters poll.
While the 0.3% monthly growth rate trails expectations for 0.4%, figures for the previous two months were both revised up significantly, leaving the annual trend on a higher path than previously thought.
The euro zone economy was expected to struggle in the second quarter as a global trade war weighed on sentiment but a slew of indicators, from GDP figures to sentiment readings, suggest that the bloc is holding up.
The 3.1% annual growth in retail sales was driven by a 4.3% rise in non-food product sales and a 4.0% increase in car fuel sales, Eurostat said.
Spain produced the biggest increase among the euro zone’s largest countries with a 6.4% annual rise but Germany at 4.8% was also above average.
In the broader European Union, retail sales were also up by 0.3% on the month and 3.1% on the year.
(Reporting by Balazs Koranyi;Editing by Alison Williams)
