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UK retail sales unexpectedly dropped, with all main sectors registering a decline except food, raising some concern for a slowing economy.
In October, sales fall 0.1 per cent compared with the previous month, according to the Office for National Statistics. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast a 0.2 per cent expansion.
The decline prompted slowing quarterly growth in the three months to October compared with the previous three months to 0.2 per cent, from 0.6 per cent in the third quarter and the slowest pace since April 2018.
“Retail sales increased at a slower rate in the latest three months, with growth the weakest seen since April of last year. All main sectors saw falling sales apart from food shops,” said an ONS spokesperson.
Retail sales are the first official data covering the start of the fourth quarter. October’s drop raises fears that consumer spending will not continue to support economic growth at the end of the year.
Gross domestic product data released this week showed that household consumption was a key driver of growth in the third quarter with a 1.2 per cent annual expansion over the previous quarter against the slowest annual rate of growth since 2010.
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