Disappointing Retail Sales in Europe

In spite of optimistic forecasts that retail sales in Europe would rise nearly 1% from a year prior, October data released today showed a slight decline for the second month in a row:



While full details are not yet available, the non-food products category posted the largest drop (-0.6%yoy) and all but three countries (Sweden, France, and Finland) in MSCI Europe reported contractions in sales versus October of 2012:



European Consumer Discretionary companies have been the best performers over the last four years, but that momentum is slowing:



Some of the best performing sub-industries and their constituents have begun to struggle over the last month or so: