UK consumer spending data for November – ‘greatly lagged’ inflation | Forexlive

The UK data via the

British retail consortium (BRC) survey:

• total sales in November +4.2% y/y vs +1.6% y/y in October

• like-for-like sales +4.1% y/y vs October +1.2% y/y

And, via

Barclaycard:

• UK November consumer spending +3.9% y/y vs October +3.5% y/y

Reuters summarise:

• consumer spending ticked up last month at a rate that greatly lagged behind inflation
• underscored the pressure on household budgets ahead of the Christmas holidays
• spending … far behind the annual 11.1% increase in consumer prices in October that was the highest reading in 41 years.
• Separate data from the British Retail Consortium (BRC), covering spending in shops only, showed a 4.2% annual increase in sales after a 1.6% increase in October, driven by expenditure on food.

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Not encouraging data. GBP is little changed: