France Services Output Rises 0.2% in July as Trade Sales Edge Down

France’s services output increased 0.2% in July from June, while the volume of sales across trade edged down 0.1%, according to data released Tuesday by the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies, or INSEE. The readings left services with another modest monthly gain while trade was virtually stable.

These two indicators cover different parts of the market economy, but together they offer a timely view of activity at the start of the third quarter. Services production tracks output across areas including transportation, accommodation and food services, information and communication, real estate, professional activities and administrative support. The trade measure covers wholesale, retail, and motor-vehicle trade and repair.

INSEE’s official publication calendar scheduled both July releases for September 22 at 8:45 a.m. Monthly services and trade series are published on a seasonally and working-day adjusted basis, which is intended to make changes from one month to the next more comparable.

Services output posts another small monthly increase

July’s 0.2% rise extends the recent pattern of limited month-to-month growth in services. In the previous release, INSEE estimated that services output rose 0.2% in June after a 0.2% decline in May. Those figures can be revised as source data and seasonal-adjustment parameters are updated, so the most useful signal from the July headline is the direction and scale of the latest change rather than a simple accumulation of initially reported monthly rates.

June’s increase had been led by transportation and storage, where output rose 2.6%. Professional, scientific and technical activities increased 0.8%, while arts, entertainment and recreation rose 1.3%. The same report showed declines of 1.3% in information and communication, 2.3% in real estate activities and 0.4% in accommodation and food services. That mix illustrates why a small movement in the aggregate index can mask much larger changes in individual service industries.

On a broader comparison, INSEE reported that services output in the second quarter of 2026 was 1.0% above the second quarter of 2025. Professional, scientific and technical activities, information and communication, and real estate were among the sectors with year-over-year increases, while administrative and support services and arts, entertainment and recreation were lower.

Survey evidence for July had pointed to somewhat better sentiment without signaling a strong expansion. INSEE’s overall French business-climate indicator rose two points to 97 in July, still below its long-term average of 100. The services climate rose to 98. INSEE said conditions improved across service subsectors except information and communication. Those business surveys measure managers’ assessments and expectations, not realized production, so they should be read alongside rather than as a substitute for the output index.

Trade sales flatten after June’s rebound

July’s 0.1% decline in sales volume in trade followed a 0.3% increase reported for June. INSEE’s June release had also revised May’s fall to 1.0%, showing how quickly the monthly trade series can change direction. The July result therefore points to a loss of momentum after June’s partial rebound rather than a large contraction in commercial activity.

In June, wholesale trade excluding motor vehicles rose 0.3%, and retail trade excluding motor vehicles increased 0.4%. Sales in motor-vehicle trade and repair were unchanged. Within retail, specialised stores rose 1.1%, helped by gains in categories including pharmacies, clothing and footwear shops and by a rebound in automotive-fuel sales. Non-specialised stores fell 0.6%, while non-store retail declined 0.5%.

Compared with the latest monthly reading, the second-quarter comparison was stronger. Overall sales volume in trade was 1.3% higher than in the second quarter of 2025. Retail trade increased 2.2% from a year earlier, motor-vehicle trade and repair rose 3.0%, and wholesale trade was up 0.4%. July’s dip does not erase those year-over-year gains, but it shows that the pace of activity entering the third quarter was uneven.

Other July indicators give a mixed but useful cross-check. INSEE’s retail and motor-vehicle business-climate index jumped eight points to 99, close to its long-term average. Retail excluding motor vehicles rose to 102, while the motor-vehicle component improved to 95 but remained below 100. Wholesale sentiment moved the other way: its business-climate index slipped two points to 95, with managers reporting weaker assessments of past sales and export sales.

Household consumption of goods also increased 0.5% in volume in July after a 0.6% rise in June. Spending on engineered goods rose 0.5%, energy consumption increased 0.8% and food consumption gained 0.2%, while textile and clothing consumption fell 0.2%. Household-goods consumption is not the same statistical measure as trade sales, because its scope and source data differ, but the contrast helps explain why a nearly flat aggregate trade reading should not be interpreted as a uniform decline across consumer categories.

July data point to an uneven start to the third quarter

Against that mixed monthly picture, the broader backdrop remains subdued. INSEE’s latest economic dashboard shows that French gross domestic product was unchanged in the second quarter after contracting 0.2% in the first quarter. Household purchasing power per consumption unit declined during the second quarter, while the unemployment rate rose to 8.3%. Those figures do not determine the July services or trade readings, but they frame an economy that entered the third quarter without strong aggregate growth.

At the same time, July’s improvement in business sentiment and the rise in household goods consumption show that weakness was not uniform. Services production advanced, retail confidence recovered sharply, and household goods volumes increased even as overall trade sales were nearly flat. The data are more consistent with uneven activity across sectors than with a broad acceleration or a broad-based downturn.

Fresh official checks on that picture come quickly. INSEE is scheduled to publish September business-climate surveys for services, retail and motor-vehicle trade, wholesale trade and other sectors on September 24. August household goods consumption is due on September 30. Those releases will provide fresher evidence on whether the modest service growth and flat trade performance seen in July carried into the remainder of the third quarter.