United Kingdom: Retail sales growth ebbs in February
Retail sales expanded 0.1% month-on-month in seasonally adjusted terms in February (January: +3.6% mom), better than market forecasts for a contraction. Higher sales volumes in clothing and department stores were largely offset by falls in food stores and fuel retailers sales.
On an annual basis, retail sales fell 0.3% in February (January: +0.5% yoy). Meanwhile, the trend improved modestly, with the annual average variation of retail sales coming in at minus 2.1% in February, up from January’s minus 2.4%.
Taken together, retail sales growth in January and February suggests private consumption will have recovered in Q1 from Q4’s contraction, which is in line with our panelists’ expectations.