Eurozone retail sales grew at the fastest pace in nearly two years and the private sector activity in all big-four economies in the bloc expanded for the first time since April 2014.
Retail sales rose 1.1 percent on a monthly basis in January, faster than a revised 0.4 percent growth in December, a report from Eurostat revealed Wednesday. A similar 1.1 percent rise was last seen in May 2013.
This was the fourth consecutive rise in sales. The monthly growth rate was forecast to ease to 0.2 percent from December's originally estimated growth of 0.3 percent.
Food product sales growth improved to 1 percent from 0.2 percent. Likewise, non-food sales advanced 1.2 percent after rising 0.2 percent in December.
On a yearly basis, the retail sales volume climbed 3.7 percent in January versus a revised 3.1 percent rise in December. Economists had forecast a 2.3 percent. This was the fastest growth since August 2005.
IHS Global Insight's Chief European Economist Howard Archer said the fundamentals are looking increasingly favorable for Eurozone consumers in particular with purchasing power getting a serious boost from deflation and labor markets now showing improvement.
In the EU28, retail sales grew 0.8 percent on a monthly basis, taking the annual growth to 4 percent in January.
Among member states, retail sales increased the most in Portugal, Poland, Germany and Slovenia, while decreases were reported for the U.K., Lithuania, Bulgaria and Ireland.
Elsewhere, the Purchasing Managers' survey showed that the private sector activity in the 19-nation currency bloc expanded at a slower than initially estimated pace in February.
The Markit composite output index rose to 53.3 in February from 52.6 in January. The reading was slightly below the flash score of 53.5.
Nonetheless, it signaled an expansion for the twentieth month in a row and the growth rate of economic output accelerated for the third straight month, rising to its highest since last July.
The services Purchasing Managers' Index rose to a 7-month high of 53.7 in February from 52.7 in January. It was also below 53.9 estimated on February 20.
For the first time since April 2014, expansions in economic activity were signaled across each of the 'big-four' Eurozone economies.
The rate of expansion in German economic activity was the fastest in four months. Another key development was that France exited stagnation, with the second largest economy seeing the strongest growth of both output and new business since August 2011.
The increasingly positive survey data put the region's GDP on course to grow by 0.3 percent in the first quarter, Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit said.
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May 01, 2026 15:54 ET Central banks dominated the economics news flow this week with almost all major ones announcing their latest policy decisions and many boosted expectations for a rate hike in June. In other news, several countries released the preliminary data for first quarter economic growth. In the U.S., comments by Fed Chair Jerome Powell were also in focus as his term ends this month.