Thanks Ma'am! UK retail sales for May up by 1.4%
Us Brits have been buying more food and booze lately, and it's all The Queen's fault. Yes the Diamond Jubilee effect and the mini-heatwave has seen UK retail sales jump up by 1.4% last month, smashing expectations. The fact we were all looking forward to celebrating the Queen's 60 year reign has meant tills have been ringing.
The Office of National Statistics said they were only expecting a 1.2% figure for May, though any excitement about these figures might be short-lived: the Bank of England has put a slight dampener on it – they say the Jubilee partying this month might actually be an overall half a percent drag on Britain's GDP and consumer confidence is still low despite the small spike.
There might be fresh winds in the offing as the Bank is expected to add £50 billion of quantitative easing into the mix, as well as two credit easing initiatives to nudge the banks into being less stingy with their lending.