Euro zone retail sales fall more than expected in July

FRANKFURT (Reuters) -Retail sales growth in the euro zone slowed further in July, raising doubts that healthy domestic consumption could continue to offset a hit to economic growth from U.S. tariffs, data from Eurostat showed on Thursday.

Retail sales in the 20 nations sharing the euro fell by 0.5% on the month, underperforming expectations for a 0.2% monthly drop, while sales were 2.2% higher than a year ago, below the 2.4% rise seen in a Reuters poll of economists.

Euro zone growth was unexpectedly strong in first half of the year as household consumption picked up and economists have been debating whether this increase was sustainable given the hit to sentiment from tariffs and economic turmoil elsewhere.

(Reporting by Balazs Koranyi; Editing by Toby Chopra)