Trade Desk Thoughts - U.K. Retail Sales

U.K. Retail Sales Actual 1.2%, Expected -0.4%, Previous 0.9% (revised from 0.8%)

Release Explanation: Retail sales are a very important set of figures that make up a large percentage of consumer spending numbers. Retail sales are the measure of the total sales of goods and services by retail stores. Retail Sales is an important measure of consumer spending and inflationary pressures.

Trade Desk Thoughts: Retail sales grew in August at a monthly pace of 1.2%, much better than the analyst expectations of -0.4%. Textile, clothing and footwear rose by 4.1% in August, while sales in food stores fell by 0.2%. The average weekly value of sales in August was £5.1 billion, 3.9% higher than in August 2007. Sales by predominantly food stores rose by 5.5% over the year. In the predominantly non-food stores sales rose by 2.2%. Within the non-store retailing and repair sector sales increased by 6.5%.

Forex Technical Reaction: The cable spiked 50 pips after the release, but soon retraced the move. Against the euro, the pound is trading lower for the first time in 11 days.

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