Retail Sales Crash

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Retail Sales Crash

Retail Sales Numbers Crash In The UK

UK's retail sales figures dropped a lot more than what was expected in the forecasts during the month of March. In fact, the new retail sales numbers have started to cast a dark shadow over the UK's economy as PM Theresa May even called for new elections.

The decline was 1.8% m/m for March and was released by the National Statistics Office. A closer look at the reading reveals that consumers are spending less money which has resulted in lower retail sales. But why the retail sales dropped down? Well, it can be attributed to a lot of factors such as economic conditions, inflation, wages, and so on. But to put it short, people are just spending less money!

Historically speaking, this drop in retail sales numbers is the biggest fall in a quarter ever since 2010. However, experts believe that there are many mitigating factors that tell us that these numbers are not as bad as they may appear at the start.

Retail Sales Data Is Lagging In Nature

For starters, the retail sales data is lagging and is not leading, which tells us that the data is not current. Furthermore, more data was released this year which shows positive momentum in retail spending over the recent holidays.

Barclaycard also reported a 13% increase in retail sales at the stores, which gives us a sign of hope that things may turn around.

Overall, the folks at the BoE (Bank of England) will have to think about a lot of things after looking at this recent retail sales data update.

But how does this number relate to the BoE? Well, the BoE is responsible for setting the UK's interest rate, and recent retail sales numbers will make it difficult for them to raise the rates further. In fact, a further hike in the interest rate will make things difficult for people considering the high inflation.

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