Brazil retail sales sag for third straight month in September following weakness in labor market

Retail sales in Brazil continued to fall for the third straight month during the period of September, following weakness in the country’s labor market that is suffering the pain of continued unemployment that hurt consumer spending and thus delaying a long-awaited recovery from a two-year recession.

Brazil’s retail sales volumes excluding cars and building materials fell 1.0 percent in September from August after seasonal adjustments, as expected by economists in a Reuters poll, data released by statistics agency IBGE showed Thursday.

Sales fell 5.9 percent from the year-earlier period , down from an annual decline of 5.5 percent in August but slightly better than expectations for a 6.05 percent drop in the Reuters poll.  Further, a broader measure including automobile and building material sales, which are considered to be more volatile, fell 0.1 percent in September from August, data showed.

"Supermarket and food and beverage sales have been dragged down by the continued drop in household incomes and by the increase in food prices, which has been above the average," Reuters reported, citing IBGE in a statement.

Meanwhile, at 18:30GMT, the USD/BRL rose 2.36 percent to 3.29, compared to previous close of 3.21.