Retail sales were just slightly softer than expected in February. Following an unrevised 1.7 percent monthly bounce in January, sales dipped 0.1 percent, reducing unadjusted annual growth from 6.0 percent to 5.8 percent.

However, volumes were a good deal weaker, posting a 0.9 percent monthly drop that reversed much of January's 1.1 percent gain. Purchases of food declined 1.8 percent while non-food sales decreased 0.3 percent.

Still, having subtracted from GDP growth every quarter since the start of 2022, February's setback leaves sales just about on course to make a small positive contribution in the current period. More generally, the ECDI (minus 21) indicates limited underperformance in overall economic activity but the ECDI-P (0) shows the real economy performing in line with expectations.

Sales are expected to be flat on the month after a 1.7 percent jump in January.

Retail sales measure the total receipts at stores that sell durable and nondurable goods. The headline data are expressed in nominal terms but volume statistics are also available. Autos are excluded. Only a very limited breakdown of subsector performance is available in the first report but much greater detail is provided in the following month's release. The Italian National Institute of Statistics (Istat) is the main producer of official statistics in Italy.

With consumer spending a large part of the economy, market players continually monitor spending patterns. Retail sales are a measure of consumer well-being. 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.