UK Recovery Is “exhausted” as Retail Sales Fall Again – Business | Companies

Good morning and welcome to our ongoing coverage of the global economy, financial markets, euro zone and business.

Retail sales across the UK have fallen again in their longest dry spell in at least 25 years, a sign that the UK’s economic recovery may be slowing.

Retail sales were down 0.2% in September 2021, driven by a decrease in spending in non-food stores, although fuel spending rose during panic buying last month.

This is the fifth straight monthly decline since stores reopened after the pandemic lockdown.

According to the National Statistics Office, this is the longest consecutive monthly decline since the survey began in 1996.

Economists had expected an increase of 0.5%.

Expenditures fell the most Non-food storeswhere sales fell 1.4%.

This included a 9.3% decline in the household goods stores, with sales in the furniture and lighting markets falling 14.8%.

Expenses at grocery storeS. up by 0.6% – and is 3.9% above the level before the coronavirus pandemic.

Last month’s panic at the pumps is over Sale of fuel for automobiles 2.9% in September 2021 – or 1.8% above their pre-February 2020 pandemic levels.

The ONS adds that consume are still spend more online than before Covid-19.

The share of online retail sales rose from 27.9% in August to 28.1% in September 2021 and thus “significantly higher” than the 19.7% in February 2020 before the pandemic.

Reuters’ Andy Bruce noted that the ONS has also revised down its previous retail sales numbers:

Come today too

New purchasing managers’ indices in the UK, France, Germany and the wider Eurozone will show how manufacturing and service companies are doing this month.

CMC Markets’ Michael Hewson says PMIs may be showing a slowdown:

Over the past few months, it has become increasingly clear that we were seeing peak PMI in Germany and France, as well as the UK, although the slowdown was more pronounced in Germany, where we saw steep year-over-year levels in the low 60s to mid to high 50s Years. For France, a flash PMI is expected to be 53.9 for manufacturing and 55.6 for services.

In Germany, manufacturing activity fell to its lowest level since January in September, while the services sector slid to three-month lows, with both likely to decline to 56.5 and 55.2 in October.

UK manufacturing and service activities have also seen moderate weakness in recent months, but have shown some signs of stabilization, although rising electricity prices are now becoming headwinds not just in the UK but around the world. UK production is expected to slow to 56.1 and services to 54.5.

Yesterday, the CBI warned that UK companies are facing the tightest bottleneck in the supply chain since the 1970s

The agenda

• 7am BST: UK retail sales for September
• 9 am BST: Eurozone “Flash” poll of purchasing managers this month
• 9.30am BST: UK Flash Poll of Purchasing Managers This Month
• 11.30 a.m. BST: Russia’s central bank sets interest rates
• 2:45 p.m. BTS: US Flash Poll of Purchasing Managers This Month