UK retails sales drop for second consecutive month, down 1%, missing estimates

UK retail December sales drop 1% vs. consensus of 0.5%; compares to November retail sales drop of 0.4%.

The figure measures change in the total value of inflation-adjusted sales at the retail level, where actual greater than projected is good for the currency.

Second monthly drop is a sign that the UK consumer is suffering as retail sales miss on estimates by quite some margin.

Sales volumes were 1.7% below their pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) February levels.

Non-food stores sales volumes fell by 2.1% and food store sales volumes fell by 0.3% on the month.

The proportion of online sales fell to 25.4% in December 2022 from 25.9% in November, with anecdotal evidence that Royal Mail strikes led to consumers shopping in stores more.

ETFs: (FXB), (EWU), (FKU), (EWUS), (HEWU), (FLGB).