French Consumer Spending Falls Unexpectedly in December

PARIS – French consumer spending dropped unexpectedly in December as households cut back across the board, statistics showed Tuesday.

Consumer spending in the eurozone's second largest economy fell 1.2% on month in December while economists polled by The Wall Street Journal were expecting a 0.6% increase.

The consumer spending figure shows a soft spot in the French economy amid a broader acceleration of growth. Statistics earlier Tuesday showed strong growth in business investment helped drive an economic expansion of 1.9% in 2017, the largest since 2011.

In December, consumers cut spending on food and manufactured goods by 1.4% a piece, Insee said.

Still, the statistics agency revised its November figures upwards to a 3% month-on-month expansion from 2.2% previously. Quarter-on-quarter, spending in the last three months of the year was down only 0.1%, Insee said.

Write to William Horobin at william.horobin@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 30, 2018 03:25 ET (08:25 GMT)