Euro zone retail sales were far weaker than expected in August as producer prices rose at their fastest annual rate since May 2001.
Sales in the bloc fell by 1.3 per cent from the previous month and declined by 0.4 per cent from a year earlier.
That was below economists' expectations of a 0.1 per cent monthly decline and a 1.4 per cent year-on-year increase.
Moreover, Eurostat revised down July retail sales data to show they stagnated on a monthly basis and rose 0.9 per cent on an annual one. It had previously estimated sales rose 0.4 per cent month-on-month and climbed 1.1 per cent year-on-year.
Euro zone producer prices rose 0.4 per cent from a month earlier and 3.1 per cent from a year ago.
That was in line with the consensus forecast of economists and followed an annual increase of 2.9 per cent in July.
A Eurostat official said energy prices were exerting the biggest upward impact on factory gate prices in August.
A breakdown of the producer price data, which is a key indicator of pipeline inflation pressures, showed energy prices rose 1.4 per cent from a month earlier and 5.4 per cent from a year ago.
Both were the biggest increases since May and came the month before oil prices hit new record highs.