Eurozone Retail Sales decreased in February according to a news release by EuroStat earlier today. February retail sales declined by 0.6 percent in the 16 
country Eurozone after increasing by a revised 0.1 percent in January.
The retail sales decline was more than expected as market forecasts had expected sales to decline by 0.4 percent for the month. On an annual basis, February’s retail sales numbers dropped 4.0 percent below the February 2008 level.
Contributing to the decline in retail sales was a sales decrease of 1.1 percent in the non-food sector while sales in the food, drinks & tobacco sector was flat for the month.
Producer Prices decline in August.
Producer Prices in the eurozone fell in February from January according to a separate report released from EuroStat today. Producer prices decreased by 0.5 percent in the month of February following a decrease of a revised 1.1 percent in January.
On an annual basis, producer prices have fallen 1.8 percent from February 2008 following a revised 0.7 percent annual decrease in January. Market forecasts were expecting monthly producer prices to decline by 0.5 percent and the annual rate to register a decrease of 1.5 percent.
Producer prices, excluding energy prices, fell by 0.4 percent for the month of February. Contributing to the decreased producer prices was a decline of 0.7 percent in energy sector prices while non-durable goods fell by 0.3 percent and intermediate goods decreased by 0.9 percent.
European currency mixed in Trading Today.
The 16-nation Euro has been mixed today in trading against other major currencies.
The euro has declined against the US dollar as the EUR/USD trades at 1.3403 in the afternoon of the U.S. session at 3:43pm EST after opening the day at 1.3571(00:00GMT).
The euro is virtually unchanged against the British pound as the EUR/GBP trades at 0.9096 from its 0.9092 open. Against the Japanese yen, the euro has fallen from 136.86 to 135.35 in today’s trading action while against the Swiss franc, the euro has also declined as the EUR/CHF has fallen from 1.5273 to 1.5237 francs per euro.
The euro is also trading virtually unchanged against the Canadian dollar compared to today’s opening rate as the EUR/CAD trades at 1.6609 from 1.6606 while the euro has declined against the Australian and New Zealand dollars. The EUR/AUD has declined to 1.8799 from 1.8853 and the EUR/NZD trades at 2.2798 after opening at the 2.2823 exchange rate.
EUR/USD Chart – The Euro falling against the US Dollar today in currency trading(4-Hour Chart). The EUR/USD pair is trading right at the intersection of the 21-period simple moving average(green) and 55-period simple moving average(blue).
