German January retail sales beat forecasts

(Sharecast News) - German retails sales in January beat expectations, climbing 0.2% month-on-month after a 1.6% fall in December, according to official data published on Friday. Expectations had been for a print of zero. On an annual basis, retail sales rose by 2.9% in January, compared to 1.8% in December.

In other statistics released on Friday, German import prices increased by 3.1% year on year in January, compared with forecasts of a 2.7% rise.

According to provisional calculations, the seasonally adjusted number of persons in employment fell slightly by 9,000.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com