Breaking: UK Retail Sales beats estimates with +12% MoM in May, GBP/USD tests highs

The UK retail sales came in at +12.0% over the month in May vs. +5.7% expected and -18.1% previous. The core retail sales, stripping the auto motor fuel sales, stood at +10.2% MoM vs. +4.5% expected and -15.2% previous.          

On an annualized basis, the UK retail sales stood at -13.1% in May versus -17.1% expected and -22.6% prior while the core retail sales also decreased -9.8% in the reported month versus -14.4% expectations and -18.4% previous.

Main points (via ONS)

“Non-food stores provided the largest positive contribution to the monthly growth in May 2020, aided by a strong increase of 42.0% in household goods stores, with the opening of hardware, paints and glass stores reflected in this sector.

The proportion spent online soared to the highest proportion on record in May 2020 at 33.4%, which compares with 30.8% reported in April 2020.

While there was a strong increase in the volume of fuel sales in May 2020, levels still remain 42.5% lower than February 2020, before government travel restrictions were in place.

In the three months to May 2020, the volume of retail sales decreased by a record 12.8%, with declines across all stores except food and non-store retailing.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has released a public statement on the coronavirus (COVID-19) and the production of statistics.”

FX implications

GBP/USD tested the daily high at 1.2452 on the upbeat UK macro news before reversing a few pips to now trade at 1.2440, still up 01.12% on the day.

Reprinted from fxstreet, the copyright all reserved by the original author. #GBP/USD# #RetailSales#