UK retail sales unexpectedly drops 0.5% m/m in October

• UK retail sales dropped 0.5% m/m in Oct, a negative surprise
• The core retail sales in the UK fell by 0.4% m/m in Oct.

The UK retail sales dropped 0.5% over the month in October, surprising markets to the downside while core retail sales stripping the auto motor fuel sales also unexpectedly fell 0.4% m/m.

On an annualized basis, the UK retail sales fell 2.2% in October versus 3.0% expected while the core retail sales also ticked 2.7% higher in the reported month versus 3.6% previous and 3.3% expectations.

Main Points:

The year-on-year average store price for fuel continued to increase in October 2018 to 11.4%; this is the 26th consecutive month to show an increase.

Online sales as a total of all retailing increased to 18.0% from the 17.7% reported in September 2018, with textile, clothing and footwear stores continuing a record proportion of online sales at 18.2%; this was despite a fall in total retail spending in this sector.