UK DATA: Aug Retail Sales inc. fuel -0.5% m/m; +0.4% y/y
–Aug retail sales ex fuel -0.4% m/m; +1.9% y/y
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Retail sales volumes fell 0.5% m/m in August against expectations
of a rise of 0.2% on the month, the first m/m fall since January.
Ex-auto fuel the fall was 0.4% m/m. There was also a downward revision
to the July data which now shows a 0.8% against the earlier 1.1%
estimate. The latest decline follows 3 months of strong growth in
volumes and too much shouldn’t be read into one month’s data. However,
along with other data showing a slowdown recently, this will be seen as
another sign that the economy is slowing and potentially faces a double
dip into recession. Leading the fall this month was a large fall at
other stores as well as declines at clothing and footwear, household
goods and food stores. The only rises came from department stores and
non-store retailing which is mainly internet sales.