Retails sales come in flat

The UK retail sales figures for September have been released this morning and show no growth compared to the prior month. There hasn’t been a major reaction in the markets thus far, with the pound moving slightly lower and stock benchmarks remaining little changed.

Retail sales misses forecasts

With expectations of a rise in the most recent retail sales data, the fact that the figure came in flat will come as something of a negative shock and has already weighed on the pound. Consensus estimates amongst analysts predicted a 0.3% increase after the 0.2% decline last time out and therefore the print of 0.0% is mildly disappointing. This economic indicator contracted sharply in July following the shock of the EU referendum result but enjoyed a strong rebound the following month as a decline in the pound helped boost tourist numbers and their shopping habits. On the macro front, we have the latest rate decision from the European Central Bank around lunchtime that is widely expected to remain unchanged, but President Draghi’s press conference could shed some more light on recent murmurings in the market that unconventional easing measures may be reigned back in the not too distant future. This event has the potential to drive flows in the EUR/GBP and UK stock markets later on today.

FTSE remains around the 7000 level

The leading UK stock benchmark is having a relatively quiet morning in terms of trade with the FTSE 100 marginally lower by 4 points at the time of writing. After a broker downgrade overnight shares in ITV are the worst performing on the index and lower by approximately 3.5%. Stocks that are sensitive to the construction industry are also in negative territory with Travis Perkins, Taylor Wimpey and Barratt Developments all losing ground so far. As far as the gainers are concerned it’s been a bright start for airline stocks with International Consolidated Airlines and easyJet rising.