UK retail sales declined more-than-expected in December as the Omicron outbreak dampened Christmas sales, data from the Office for National Statistics showed Friday. Retail sales fell 3.7 percent on a monthly basis in December, reversing the 1 percent increase a month ago. Sales were forecast to fall 0.6 percent. This was the biggest decline since January 2021.
Likewise, sales volume excluding auto fuel, decreased 3.6 percent after rising 0.7 percent in November. This was also much bigger than the economists' forecast of -0.5 percent.
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May 15, 2026 15:25 ET Apart from the confirmation of Kevin Warsh as the next Fed chair, the main news on the economics front this week included key price data from the U.S. and the first quarter economic growth figures from major economies. Both consumer prices and producer costs have started to reflect the effect of supply shocks due to the Middle East conflict. In Europe, GDP data was in focus, while inflation data from China dominated the news flow in Asia.