Coronavirus lockdown hits German retail sales in March

BERLIN (Reuters) - German monthly retail sales declined in March at their fastest rate since January 2007 as shops remained closed in a lockdown to slow the spread of the coronavirus in Europe's biggest economy, data showed on Thursday. Data from the Statistics office showed retail sales falling by 5.6 percent on the month in March, which was nevertheless a smaller drop than an analyst forecast for a 7.3% decline. They fell by 2.8% on the year. There had been a surge in retail sales, a..