Brazil Retail Sales Unexpectedly Fall 0.1%

(RTTNews) - Brazil's retail sales decreased for the third straight month in June, figures from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, or IBGE, showed on Wednesday.

Retail sales dropped 0.1 percent month-on-month in June, following a 0.4 percent fall in May. Meanwhile, economists had expected a 0.7 percent rise for the month.

Sales of office, computer, and communication equipment and supplies showed a decline of 2.7 percent over the month, and those of books, newspapers, magazines, and stationery slid by 1.5 percent. On the other hand, sales of other articles for personal and household use rose by 1.0 percent.

On a yearly basis, retail sales advanced 0.3 percent at the end of the second quarter versus an expected growth of 2.4 percent.