UK retail sales drop 0.9% m/m in December, miss estimates
- The UK retail sales dropped by -0.9% m/m in Dec.
- The core retail sales in the UK dropped by -1.3% m/m in Dec.
The UK retail sales contracted 0.9% over the month in December, missing market expectations by a small margin while core retail sales stripping the auto motor fuel sales also dropped 1.3% m/m.
On an annualized basis, the UK retail sales fell 3.0% in December versus 3.6% expected while the core retail sales also declined 2.6% in the reported month versus 3.5% previous and 3.9% expectations.
Main Points (via ONS):
“In the three months to December 2018, estimates in the quantity bought decreased by 0.2% with declines across all main sectors except fuel.
Looking at annual growth rates, the whole of 2018 increased by 2.7% in the quantity bought; an annual slowdown in comparison with the peak of 4.7% experienced in 2016.
In December 2018, online retailing accounted for 20% of total retailing, with an overall growth of 13.9% when compared with the same month a year earlier.”
Author
Dhwani Mehta
FXStreet
Residing in Mumbai (India), Dhwani is a Senior Analyst and Manager of the Asian session at FXStreet. She has over 10 years of experience in analyzing and covering the global financial markets, with specialization in Forex and commodities markets.
