European Session – Sterling jumps after retail sales smash expectations
Posted on January 17, 2014 at 2:23 pm GMTSterling was the star performer of the day following the release of much higher-than-expected retail sales for December. The data showed that UK consumers ratcheted up their spending in the run-up and during the Christmas period. The month-on-month increase was 2.6% compared to a 0.3% increase the previous month and much higher than a 0.4% rise that was expected by economists. The year-on-year increase was 5.3% in inflation-adjusted terms, while in October the annual rate of increase was 1.8%. The [..]