According to the latest surveys on British consumer spending, the Kingdom’s retail sales rebounded last month but the overall spending remains at lower levels amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Key findings

“The British Retail Consortium (BRC) trade body said retail sales values rose by 3.4% in annual terms in June, the biggest increase since May 2018, although the reading was flattered by the comparison with unusually weak sales in June 2019.”

BRC Chief Executive Helen Dickinson said, “Though a month of growth is welcome news, retail is not out of the woods yet. The pandemic continues to pose huge challenges to the industry, with ongoing stores closures and job losses across the UK.”

“Payment card company Barclaycard said overall consumer spending fell 14.5% in annual terms in June - the smallest decline since lockdown began.”

Market reaction

Amid risk aversion, the pound fails to benefit from the above survey, as GBP/USD trades -0.08% at 1.2540, near daily lows.