United Kingdom Retail Sales falls 0.4% MoM in September vs. -0.1% estimates

Retail Sales, a key measure of consumer spending, in the United Kingdom (UK) fell by 0.4% month-over-month (MoM) in September after rising by 0.7% in August (revised from 0.5%), the latest data published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed on Friday. The market forecast was for a 0.1% decline in the reported month.

The core Retail Sales, stripping the auto motor fuel sales, dropped by 0.7% MoM in September, compared with the previous increase of 0.9% (revised from 0.6%) and the estimated -0.1% figure. 

The annual Retail Sales in the UK came in at 0.8% in September versus a rise of 2.7% prior (revised from 2.4%) and 1.0% expectations.

The annual core Retail Sales increased 0.8% in the same month, against August’s 2.9% (revised from 2.7%). The reading came in below the consensus of 1.5%.

Market reaction

The British Pound (GBP) edges slightly lower after the release of the weak UK Retail Sales data for August. At the time of writing, the GBP/USD pair is down 0.09% on the day at 1.3388.