UK retail sales slumps with bad weather and sticky inflation

Sam North, analyst at investment platform eToro, says: “UK retail sales showed a significant decline, due to factors such as election uncertainty, adverse weather, and reduced footfall.

“All sub-sectors experienced declines, particularly department stores, clothing and footwear retailers, and furniture stores. Food store sales, driven mainly by supermarkets, fell more than non-food store sales. Poor weather and economic conditions were noted as contributing factors, leading to more cautious consumer spending. In response to the data, GBP/USD briefly dipped by about 10 pips.

“This data release follows a hotter inflation print earlier in the week that all but ruled out a cut in August’s policy meeting for the Bank of England. While today’s release is unlikely to change things, and retail sales data is volatile, it is not ideal to potentially see the consumer struggling.”