GBP: UK retail sales rebound as shoppers visit January sales

There was some positive news from the UK on Friday, as we saw retail sales rebound in January as shoppers took to the high
street to take advantage of some bargains. Figures released showed that sales increased by 1% month-over-month when a more
modest 0.2% had been expected. Year-on-year, sales jumped by 4.2% against an expectation of 3.4%.

The news helped boost sterling, which had been struggling against the dollar until that point. It is thought that price
discounts lured shoppers into the high street and convinced them to buy plenty of clothing. The annual figures were the
strongest in more than three years and are rather encouraging, even as the economy struggles with ongoing Brexit-related
uncertainty.

Today there is absolutely nothing on the schedule, but tomorrow we will see the unemployment change figures, as well as
average earnings for December. We will also see the labour productivity reading for the fourth quarter of 2018.