Louis Vuitton owner LVMH reports surprise sales drop amid China slowdown

Sales in LVMH’s fashion and leather goods division, considered a bellwether for the luxury goods sector, slid by 5%. Photograph: Stéphanie Lecocq/Reuters

Shares in luxury goods brands slumped after Louis Vuitton’s LVMH reported an unexpected fall in third-quarter sales amid China’s economic slowdown.

Shares in LVMH, which also owns Dior, Tiffany and Moët & Chandon, fell by as much as 7% in early trading, briefly hitting a two-year low, before regaining slightly, after it warned of an “uncertain economic and geopolitical environment”,with falling sales in Asia.