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Investing.com - U.K. retail sales slumped in May, overturning the prior month’s hefty gains, with food store sales in particular declining sharply on a monthly basis.
Retail sales slipped by 2.7% last month on a monthly basis, dropping from a healthy revised gain of 1.3% in April, according to data released by the Office of National Statistics data earlier Friday.
Economists had predicted that retail sales, which mostly reflect goods and are not adjusted for inflation, would drop by 0.5% on a monthly basis.
Retail sales fell by 1.3% on an annual basis, having increased by an impressive 5.0% in April as sunny weather helped British consumers return to the high streets, particularly in food stores.
Data released earlier this week showed that U.S. retail sales also fell heavily in May, falling 0.9% last month, the largest decrease since January, after a downwardly revised 0.1% dip in April.
The second straight monthly decline unwound the bulk of the tariff-driven surge in March.
President Donald Trump’s aggressive and often shifting tariff position has heightened economic uncertainty, making it difficult for businesses to plan ahead.
U.K. consumer sentiment improved in June to its highest level since December, but remained firmly in negative territory, survey data from the British Retail Consortium showed on Thursday.
"Gen Z saw the biggest improvement, in both economic outlook and their expectations of their future finances, with younger generations remaining the most optimistic about the future," said BRC Chief Executive Helen Dickinson.
"This rising optimism may also reflect the increase in minimum wage from April, with many younger people expected to have seen a significant uplift in their pay packet. Expectations of future spending – both in retail and more generally – rose slightly, with more spending on groceries planned over the coming months."
The Bank of England decided to keep its benchmark Bank Rate at 4.5% at its meeting on Thursday, but said it was focused on risks from a weaker labor market and from higher energy prices as conflict escalates in the Middle East.
"Interest rates remain on a gradual downward path," Governor Andrew Bailey said in a statement, although policymakers said in minutes of the meeting that interest rates were not on a pre-set path.
"The world is highly unpredictable. In the U.K. we are seeing signs of softening in the labour market. We will be looking carefully at the extent to which those signs feed through to consumer price inflation," Bailey said.