Retail sales in Italy decreased 1 percent month-on-month in October after adjusting to seasonal variations, data from statistical office Istat showed Thursday.
Economists expected no change in retail trade turnover in October. Sales of food articles dropped 1. 3 percent month-on-month, while trade in non-food goods fell 1 percent.
On an unadjusted basis, retail sales were down 3. 8 percent compared to October last year.
Poland's manufacturing sector expanded for the fourth consecutive month in October, helped mainly by strong growth in export orders, survey data released by Markit Economics and HSBC Bank showed Monday.
The seasonally adjusted purchasing managers' index (PMI) for the manufacturing sector rose to 53.4 in October from 53.1 in September. The index increased to the highest level since April 2011, and stayed above the no-change 50 mark for the fourth month in a row.
The upturn was driven primarily by a stronger increase in new orders, with export order growth climbing to a two-and-half year high. Export orders rose for the fifth month running in October.
In line with the rise in new business, manufacturing production rose for the fourth straight month, and at a historically strong rate. Manufacturers raised their workforces for the third consecutive month, in order to handle the increased workload.
Input price inflation faced by Polish goods producers rose to a 16-month high in October as firms reported higher prices for paper and rising tax burdens. Meanwhile, output prices decreased for the eleventh straight month.
2013-11-04 12:42