UK December retail sales -1.0% vs +0.5% m/m expected

News
  • Prior -0.4%; revised to -0.5%
  • Retail sales -5.8% vs -4.1% y/y expected
  • Prior -5.9%; revised to -5.7%
  • Retail sales (ex fuel) -1.1% vs +0.4% m/m expected
  • Prior -0.3%
  • Retail sales (ex fuel) -6.1% vs -4.4% y/y expected
  • Prior -5.9%; revised to -5.6%

This is but another sign that the UK consumer is suffering as retail sales miss on estimates by quite some margin. The pound has fallen to fresh lows on the day as a result as sales volumes are now down 1.7% below their pre-pandemic levels. Looking at the details, non-food stores sales volumes fell by 2.1% and food store sales volumes fell by 0.3% on the month.

The worst part of the report is that early Christmas spending was noted but even so, November also reflected a drop in retail sales activity to go along with the steeper drop in December. If anything else, that’s a clear signal of a collapse in consumer spending as the cost-of-living crisis worsens across UK households.

/GBP

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