Euro Retailer’s Slip on the PMI Index

London, European retailers posted their third consecutive monthly decline on the Bloomberg Retail Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), a monthly survey of economic indicators. The PMI fell to 48.3 in November, down from 48.8 in September.

France showed the steepest decline in sales values compared with September (48.5 in September to 47.2 in October). In Germany, sales fell for the first time in four months (49.7 in October), although the fall was only marginal and it was the weakest of the three countries surveyed.

To explain the slip, retailers generally cited the falling value of sales, the poor economic environment, declining consumer purchasing power and unseasonably mild weather, which postponed the purchases of certain winter goods.