LONDON (Reuters) -British retail gross sales fell by way more than anticipated in October, in line with official knowledge that added to different indicators of a lack of momentum within the financial system within the run-up to the primary price range of Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s new authorities.
A Reuters ballot of economists had forecast a month-to-month fall of 0.3% in gross sales volumes from September.
The drop was the sharpest since June when gross sales fell by 1.0% from Might. A month-to-month rise in gross sales in September was additionally revised right down to 0.1% from a earlier estimate of a 0.3% acquire.
Sterling fell by a couple of fifth of a cent in opposition to the U.S. greenback instantly after the info earlier than recovering.
The Workplace for Nationwide Statistics mentioned retailers throughout the board reported that customers held again on spending forward of the brand new authorities’s first tax and spending price range on Oct. 30.
It additionally mentioned a attainable contributor to the weak spot in gross sales had been the college half-term holidays for England and Wales which generally fall inside the October knowledge reporting interval however didn’t this yr.
Gross sales of clothes had been notably weak in October, one thing mirrored in beforehand launched figures for the month from the British Retail Consortium, representing the trade, which linked the autumn to climate that was hotter than common.
The ONS mentioned through the 12 months to October, gross sales volumes rose by 2.4%, slowing from September’s 3.2% rise and weaker than the median forecast within the Reuters ballot for a 3.4% enhance.
