The Confederation of British Industry’s monthly retail sales balance, which mostly covers major shop chains, rose to +18 in October from -20 in September.
Other data – including spending card figures published on Thursday – painted a more downbeat picture.
“The reported sales balance likely was depressed in September by the additional public holiday for the Queen’s funeral, so it was always likely to rebound,” Samuel Tombs, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics consultancy, said.
The CBI survey suggested there would be an October rebound in official sales volumes too, even though the broader outlook for consumer confidence remained resolutely downbeat.
Credit and debit card data from the Office for National Statistics showed spending fell during the week to Oct. 20 to 97.5% of its pre-pandemic level in February 2020.
Read more at Reuters
