Latest data released by ONS - 20 November 2020
- Prior +1.5%; revised top +1.4%
- Retail sales +5.8% vs +4.1% y/y expected
- Prior +4.7%; revised to +4.6%
- Retail sales (ex autos, fuel) +1.3% vs 0.0% m/m expected
- Prior +1.6%; revised to +1.5%
- Retail sales (ex autos, fuel) +7.8% vs +5.9% y/y expected
- Prior +6.4%
Slight delay in the release by the source. That is some good news for the UK economy, as spending in October beat out expectations and grew for a sixth consecutive month in terms of retail sales volume.
Looking at the details, sales from non-store retailing jumped by 6.4% while sales from household goods grew by 3.2%. ONS notes that consumers have started Christmas shopping earlier this year amid early discounting from a range of stores.
The pound is nudging mildly higher from 1.3280 to 1.3288 but in the grand scheme of things, this will do little to change the outlook of the UK economy unless conditions elsewhere also show similar signs of improvement/robustness.
