Having fallen a revised 1.5 percent on the month in October, retail sales posted a partial recovery with a larger than expected 0.8 percent rise in November. However, with base effects negative, the advance still saw annual growth slip from minus 2.6 percent to minus 2.8 percent.

November's monthly gain was attributable to a 1.6 percent increase in sales of non-food (ex-auto fuel) products and a 0.8 percent rise in auto fuel. Increases here more than offset a 0.9 percent drop in food, drink and tobacco, the subsector's third fall in the last four months.

Regionally, Germany (1.1 percent) and, in particular, Spain (3.6 percent) posted solid advances but France (minus 1.0 percent) saw a second successive drop. Elsewhere, the picture was similarly mixed.

The limited rebound leaves average Eurozone retail sales in October/November 0.6 percent below their average level in the third quarter. Absent any revisions, December will need a monthly rise of at least 1.3 percent to prevent the sector from subtracting from fourth quarter GDP growth. Nonetheless, today's suite of data puts the Eurozone's ECDI at 24 and the ECDI-P at 35, both measures indicating overall economic outperformance versus expectations.

November is expected to see a 0.5 percent rebound following October's 1.8 percent decline.

Retail sales measure goods that are sold to the consumer or end-user, generally in small quantities and in the state in which they were purchased by the retailer. Eurozone retail sales are reported monthly, in volume terms and exclude autos and motorcycles. A limited sector breakdown is presented in the first release but much more detail is available in the following period's release.

Retail sales are important indicators of domestic consumer demand and are monitored closely by analysts as an important input to GDP. If you know what consumers are up to, you will have a pretty good idea on where the economy is headed. Needless to say, that's a big advantage for investors. The data are available in both value and volume measures although the press release deals only with volume. In addition to the total, the initial report provides a limited breakdown that separately identifies food, drink and tobacco, and (excluding automotive fuel) non-food products. A more comprehensive dataset is only available with the following month's release. Unlike the U.S. and Canada, auto sales are not included in the retail sales data.

The pattern in consumer spending is often the foremost influence on stock and bond markets. For stocks, strong economic growth translates to healthy corporate profits and higher stock prices. For bonds, the focus is whether economic growth goes overboard and leads to inflation. Ideally, the economy walks that fine line between strong growth and excessive (inflationary) growth.

Retail sales not only give you a sense of the big picture, but also the trends among different types of retailers. Perhaps auto sales are especially strong or apparel sales are showing exceptional weakness. These trends from the retail sales data can help you spot specific investment opportunities, without having to wait for a company's quarterly or annual report.