United Kingdom: Consumer confidence falls in October
Consumer confidence fell to minus 31.0 in October from September’s minus 25.0. October’s result marked the worst performance since May.
The headline print reflected a broad-based deterioration, and came as lockdown restrictions were tightened to stem rising Covid-19 cases. The fact that polling took place in the first half of the month, before even tougher restrictions were implemented for some parts of the UK, suggests further declines in the index cannot be ruled out ahead. This bodes poorly for private consumption in the final quarter.
On the outlook, Joe Staton, GfK’s client strategy director, comments:
“There’s a worrying threat of a double-dip in consumer confidence as concerns for our personal financial situation and even deeper fears over the state of the UK economy drag the index down.”