UK retail sales arrive at -0.5% m/m in May, meet estimates (GBP keeps highs)

The UK retail sales came in at % over the month in May vs. -0.5% expected and -0.1% previous. The core retail sales stripping the auto motor fuel sales stood at -0.3% m/m vs. -0.5% expected and -0.3% previous.

On an annualized basis, the UK retail sales rose 2.3% in May versus 2.7% expected while the core retail sales also advanced 2.2% in the reported month versus 4.7% previous and 2.5% expectations.

Main Points (via ONS):

“Clothing, footwear sales volumes post biggest monthly drop since July 2015, down 4.5% in May due to cold weather, mixed picture across rest of sector.

In May 2019, online retailing accounted for 19.3% of total retailing, with an overall growth of 8.2% when compared with the same month a year earlier.

Fuel stores contributed negatively to the amount spent and quantity bought, both at negative 0.2 percentage points.

Non-food stores also contributed negatively to the amount spent and quantity bought, at negative 0.1 and negative 0.2 percentage points respectively.”