| Time | Country | Event | Period | Previous value | Forecast | Actual |
|---|
| 07:00 | United Kingdom | Retail Sales (YoY) | December | 0.2% | 1.1% | -2.4% |
| 07:00 | United Kingdom | Retail Sales (MoM) | December | 1.4% | -0.5% | -3.2% |
GBP depreciated against other major currencies in the European session on Friday as investors digested data from the UK, showing a bigger-than-expected slump in retail sales in December.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported this morning that Britain’s retail sales declined by 3.2% MoM in December 2023, following an upwardly revised 1.4% MoM rise in November. This marked the steepest monthly decrease since January 2021 and disappointed economists who had predicted a 0.5% MoM fall. Compared to December 2022, retail sales dropped by 2.4%, much worse than economists’ forecast of a 1.1% advance.
The disappointing December retail sales data prompted markets to slightly increase bets for interest rate reductions by the Bank of England this year. Markets now see around 120 basis points of rate cuts in 2024, up from nearly 110 basis points the day before, Bloomberg reports.