European retail sales: the latest slump

For a fifth consecutive month, European retail sales are falling and the slide has been the steepest since 2004 as shown in the figures of the Bloomberg Retail Purchasing Managers Index.

Analysts and economists alike have labelled the current world financial crisis as the worst since the great depression, and with Europe’s economy flirting with recession it is no wonder that the Bloomberg index has been consistently below 50 which indicates a contraction.

With manufacturing, construction and service industries all in contraction the Dow Jones Stoxx 600 index is down more than 40 percent in 2008.

In Europe, the situation is equally as grim, and the corporate sector is making negative noises about the depression of consumer spending with a very lean Christmas being predicted.

The economic downturn has clearly spread to the household budget as retail sales have fallen in Germany, France and Italy.

In France, retail sales have fallen for the first time in four months and Italy experienced the steepest decline in the euro zone.

This has all resulted in retailers suffering in a very competitive high street with margins falling, they are heading for very lean times indeed.

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