UK Retail Sales Rise Unexpectedly With January Discounting
- Food and clothing sales fall, but fuel jumps with lower prices
- Figures suggest consumers weathering cost-of-living squeeze
Pedestrians pass luxury stores on New Bond Street in central London, UK.
Photographer: Betty Laura Zapata/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
UK retail sales rose unexpectedly last month after post-Christmas discounting brought people into stores.
The volume of goods sold in stores and online rose 0.5% in January after a 1.2% decline in December, the Office for National Statistics said Friday. Economists had expected a drop of 0.3%.