Europe's Retail Sales Got A Christmas Boost In November

Eurozone retail sales rose 0.6% in November, beating analyst expectations. They're now up 1.5%, which is actually not too shabby in the context of the stagnant continent.

November's a closely-watched month for sales - it's typically when people begin shopping for Christmas, so any significant rise or fall is a indicator of consumer confidence.

In October, sales rose 0.6% from September. At that time, sales overall were 1.6% for the year. This is all still fairly weak in context: Europe's retailers still aren't selling as much as they were in 2010, let alone as much as they were in 2008. But the trend is clearly now positive.