Retail Sales in Euro Region Unexpectedly Declined in December

Feb. 3 (Bloomberg) -- European retail sales unexpectedly declined in December, led by Germany and France, as unemployment at a 14-year high and government spending cuts sapped consumer demand. 

Sales dropped 0.4 percent in the month after a similar decrease in November, the European Union’s statistics office in Luxembourg said today. Economists had forecast a gain of 0.3 percent, the median of 16 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey showed. Sales slipped 1.6 percent from a year earlier.

Most Eurozone countries are insolvent, many on the verge of financial collapse, including Ireland, Greece, Spain, Italy.

Taxes are soaring in all these countries and the rest of the Eurozone as well.

The only thing soaring as fast as taxes in these countries are unemployment and insolvencies.

YET, economists expect retails sales to RISE. One must be an economist to be so foolish.