British Retail Consortium data for January 2023:

  • total sales +4.2% y/y (prior +6.9%)
  • like-for-like sales +3.9% y/y (prior +6.5), note that British Retail Consortium Like-for-like sales data strips out the impact of changes in store size

Also Barclays data for January:

  • consumer spending +9.7% y/y
  • consumer confidence 63%, to its highest since July of 2022

Barclays comment on its data:

  • "While it’s encouraging that confidence in household finances saw a slight boost, it is clear that Brits will still need to find ways to manage their budgets over the coming months amid rising grocery price inflation and mounting utility bills,"

GBP is ticking a little higher, the USD is dipping more broadly (small):

gbp 5 minutes 07 February 2023