German retail sales rebound in lead up to Christmas

German retail sales rebounded in October after a sharp fall in the previous month, official data showed on Friday, signalling an optimistic Christmas shopping season.
Adjusted for calendar, seasonal and inflation variations, retail sales in October were 1.9 percent higher than in September, when the sales turnover dropped by 2.8 percent, said Germany's statistical office Destatis.
Over the past year, business increased by 1.7 percent.
According to Destatis, the October increase was mainly attributed to sales in food, beverage, tobacco products and other goods such as books and jewelry. Meanwhile, another survey on Thursday found that German consumers' confidence was boosted by optimistic expectations for future income.
German retailers' association HDE forecast earlier this month that sales in the two months leading up to Christmas would be 1.2 percent higher this year than the same period last year, reaching a total volume of 85 billion euros (about 106 billion U.S. dollars).
The group also expected German retail sales in 2014 would grow by 1.8 percent, helping bolster private consumption, which was the main driving force behind the German economy as other pillars such as exports and investment were hit by geopolitical tensions abroad and weak global growth.
Europe's biggest economy expanded slightly by 0.1 percent in the third quarter, narrowly escaping a recession. It contracted by 0.1 percent in the second quarter after a growth of 0.8 percent at the start of this year.
The German government forecast the country's gross domestic product would only increase by 1.2 percent in 2014, instead of the 1.9 percent previously expected.