Retail sales in 17 countries that use the euro unexpectedly rose 0.2 percent during July despite darkening forecasts about European growth, according to official data released Monday. Compared with July last year, retail trade was down only 0.2 percent, the EU statistics agency Eurostat said. Both the monthly and annual figures were better than many analysts had expected. Some had foreseen a drop of as much as 1.0 percent from the year earlier. The uptick in July comes despite downbeat headlines about eurozone leaders' struggles to contain a crisis over too much debt in several eurozone countries. The volume of bad news has not only shaken financial markets but is also beginning to frighten businesses and consumers and weigh on production and consumption. Weakening growth indicators have led many observers to rule out further interest rate increases by the European Central Bank, which holds its monthly policy meeting this week, with an announcement on Thursday. The July figures follow an increase of 0.7 percent in June from the previous month, revised down from 0.9 percent, and an annual drop of 0.7 percent, revised from a decrease of 0.4 percent.
