020 7898 0500It was a mixed day for sterling as it made some slight gains against the euro but retraced slightly against the US dollar. This was symptomatic of a mixed day for UK economic data that showed that, while UK retail sales shrank in October, house prices rose in the last quarter.
BRC reported that non-food retail sales declined by 0.4% in the last quarter which is the worst reading since they began counting sales in 2011. There were further indications that UK shoppers are not spending as much, as John Lewis reported that sales fell by 3.7% last week compared to this time last year.
There appears to be a worrying trend with the UK economy at present, what with UK car sales and now UK retail sales declining. Perhaps the public are saving their pennies in the run up to Christmas. Only time will tell.
