U.K. Retail Sales Fall Most in 2 Years as Rain Hits Demand

U.K. retail sales fell the most in more than two years in April as record rainfall reduced demand for clothing and fuel sales plunged.

Sales including auto fuel declined 2.3 percent from March, when warm weather helped lift sales by an upwardly revised 2 percent, the Office for National Statistics said today in London. The median forecast of 24 economists in a Bloomberg survey was for a 0.8 percent decline. Sales excluding fuel dropped 1 percent, the most for almost a year.