The Pound has extended its losses against the US Dollar and Euro after the Office for National Statistics released data that showed that retail sales in the UK made an unexpected decline in April.
April’s unusually cold weather is being blamed for the unexpected slump in sales. Sales which declined by its biggest monthly drop this year. Unsurprisingly the sales of barbecue food and garden equipment were hit particularly badly. Food sales plunged 4.1%, the largest monthly fall recorded in two years.
Economists had expected no decline to be recorded with some hoping for a slight rise. In fact retail sales (not including fuel) declined by -1.4%. Total sales including fuel fell by -1.3%.
The ONS said; “Feedback from the large food store retailers suggested that the cold weather continued to impact on sales. In particular the weather hindered sales within their spring and summer ranges.”
Online retailers fared better as more shoppers opted to stay out of the cold, wet weather to do their shopping.
“The overall proportion of non-seasonally adjusted online sales remained high at 10%, reflecting feedback from large retailers, which suggested that during the continued cold weather consumers purchased from their online sites rather than in-store,” the ONS added.
Today’s data releases will be a bit of a headache for Chancellor George Osborne who had been hoping that the UK economy was on track for a strong recovery.
Meanwhile the Bank of England’s policy makers remain divided 6-3 against restarting its bond purchasing programme as they take a wait and see approach to the UK economy. Signs of recovery have halted any further quantitative easing but the Bank warned that growth outlook remains poor and that a worsening of the Eurozone crisis posed a major impediment to the country’s recovery.
Current Pound Sterling (GBP) Exchange Rates:
The Pound Sterling/US Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.5092
The Pound Sterling/Euro Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.1669
The Pound Sterling/Australian Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.5464
The Pound Sterling/New Zealand Dollar Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 1.8561
The US Dollar/Pound Sterling Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.6602
The Euro/Pound Sterling Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.8538
The Australian Dollar/Pound Sterling Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.6458
The New Zealand Dollar/Pound Sterling Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 0.5381
(As of 10:30am GMT)
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