United Kingdom: Retail sales deteriorate in December
Latest reading: Retail sales dropped 0.3% month-on-month in seasonally adjusted terms in December (November: +0.1% mom), contrasting market expectations for an expansion. This was largely due to a sharp fall in food stores sales.
On an annual basis, retail sales rose at a faster rate of 3.5% in December (November: +0.1% yoy). Accordingly, the trend improved, with the annual average variation of retail sales coming in at an over two-year high of 0.6% in December, contrasting November’s minus 0.3%.