Although there is an entire ocean separating the two continents, the retail sectors in the United States and the European Union recently had one thing in common: both regions experienced solid retail growth during this year's second quarter. This is especially welcome news for European merchants, as retail sales throughout the continent have been sluggish over the past few months.

In the E.U., data from Eurostat revealed that retail sales rose 1.2 percent from April to May. The International Business Times reported that while this is not a significant increase, it is a step in the right direction for an economy that has been struggling with recovery. It may take some time before the E.U. can get back to it's pre-recession levels last seen in 2008, but boosts in retail sales are always a positive sign to improvement, the source explained.

As for the U.S. retail sector, sales have been increasing slightly over the past few months, and recent statistics show that retail vacancies are declining, signaling that more merchants are opening up new storefronts. The Wall Street Journal reported that research from Reis Inc. found that vacancies dropped to 10.5 percent in the second quarter, which is the lowest level seen in four years.