By Geoffrey Smith
Investing.com -- Retail sales in Europe's largest economy posted a surprising recovery at the end of the third quarter, helping it to avoid an early slide into contraction.
German retail sales rose 0.9% on the month, well above forecasts for a drop of 0.3%, according to the Federal Statistics Office Destatis. August's figures were revised down slightly to show a drop of 1.4%, rather than the 1.3% originally reported.
Consequently, retail sales were down only 0.9% from a year earlier, adjusted for inflation and calendar effects. That's considerably stronger than the 4.9% drop forecast and a surprising show of strength from an economy that has been under pressure from sky-high energy prices almost all year.