Latest data released by ONS - 24 April 2020
- Prior -0.3%
- Retail sales -5.8% vs -5.0% y/y expected
- Prior 0.0%
- Retail sales (ex autos, fuel) -3.8% vs -4.0% m/m expected
- Prior -0.5%
- Retail sales (ex autos, fuel) -4.1% vs -4.8% y/y expected
- Prior +0.5%
Slight delay in the release by the source. Those are really poor figures and ONS notes that the drop in retail sales activity in March is the largest since the series began.
Adding that quarterly retail sales fell by 1.6% q/q in the first quarter of the year, and that is also helped by the strongest growth on record in food sales during March. But even that is related to panic buying surely ahead of the lockdown measures and the virus outbreak.
