High street gloom twice as bad as expected… June 16, 2011 THE plight of the UK consumer returned to the fore yesterday as new official data showed retail sales slumped more than twice as much as anticipated in May. Retail spending dropped off sharply with the end of April’s sunny weather and public holidays, leaving sales down 1.4 per cent in May, or 1.6 per cent [...]
Energy prices keep Eurozone inflation high June 16, 2011 HIGHER energy prices kept Eurozone annual inflation well above the European Central Bank’s target in May, data showed yesterday, strengthening the case for an expected ECB interest rate rise in July. Eurostat said consumer prices in the 17 countries using the euro were flat month-on-month in May and confirmed its earlier estimate of a 2.7 [...]
UK retail sales fall more than expected June 16, 2011 UK retail sales fell more than twice as expected in May, new data has shown, deepening concerns over the health of the high street. Sales fell 1.4 per cent in May compared with April, against economists’ expectations for an 0.6 per cent increase. The fall reversed April’s 1.1 per cent rise as rising job insecurity, [...]
France’s inflation figures tread water during May June 15, 2011 CONSUMER price inflation (CPI) in France rose by 0.1 percentage point in May, but the annual rate of increase slowed to two per cent, the country’s national statistics institute Insee said yesterday. Energy prices declined 1.6 per cent, but remained above analysts’ expectations due to a smaller than expected drop in the cost of petrol and [...]
Sainsbury’s sales up as shoppers buy bargains June 15, 2011 Supermarket chain Sainsbury’s has seen like-for-like sales grow 1.9 per cent in the past three months, excluding sales of fuel but including VAT, confirming the subdued consumer spending trend. It warned that customers were turning to its own-brand products to try to spend less on food and had focused on products included in meal deals. [...]
Inflation held up by steeper food prices June 14, 2011 INFLATION is widely expected to balloon past five per cent in the coming months, after rising food costs held the consumer price index to a two-and-a-half year high of 4.5 per cent in May. May’s steady rate on the CPI “represents just a temporary pause in an upward trend which could take inflation to 5.5 [...]
China’s inflation hits 34-month high June 14, 2011 China’s central bank has raised bank reserve ratios for the ninth time since last October after inflation rose to 5.5 per cent in May, its highest level in almost three years. The central bank increased the ratio for China’s biggest banks to 21.5 per cent, a record high, locking up funds that could otherwise be [...]
Inflation hits the poor and pensioners June 13, 2011 INFLATION is harming the UK’s poor and pensioners more severely than people on higher incomes, research from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) revealed today. The figures compound worries about further hikes in household energy prices, which will see those on lower incomes holding back on heating their homes, the report warned. Domestic fuel costs [...]
Sterling’s slump is costing us all dear June 12, 2011 WELCOME to price hike Britain. Wherever one looks, consumer goods and food are becoming dearer. Energy prices are rocketing. One fundamental reason for these increases is the collapse in the value of sterling since the recession, a development which has been insufficiently well understood by the UK’s political establishment. Sterling’s slump is a dramatic reversal [...]
Price pressures remain in pipeline for consumers June 12, 2011 CONSUMER price inflation is expected to have remained at 4.5 per cent last month, level with April’s two and half year high — with official figures set to confirm the latest rate tomorrow. Stubborn price pressures will put further strain on the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee, despite governor Mervyn King admitting that the [...]