Mar Retail Sales Soar; To Significantly Q1..>

UK DATA: Mar Retail Sales Soar; To Significantly Lift Q1 GDP

-UK Q1 sales +1.6%; to add 0.09pp to Q1 GDP

-UK Mar total sales +1.1% m/m, +6.7% y/y

-UK Mar sales ex fuel +1.2% m/m, +6.2 y/y

-UK Mar retail prices +0.7% y/y vs +0.5% in Feb

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UK consumers continue to shrug off Brexit uncertainty, with annual 

sales volumes rising at their fastest pace since October of 2016, far 

outpacing the MNI median forecast of a 4.5% annual jump and a 0.3% 

monthly decline.  That lifted Q1 sales by 1.6%, the best for a calendar 

quarter since Q2 2018. Retail sales account for approximately one fifth 

of household spending and 5.4% of GDP, according to a National 

Statistics official. Sales at non-store retailers, which include online 

sales, surged by 4.3% m/m and by 23.0% y/y, taking internet sales to a 

record-high 19.0% of all sales, seasonally adjusted, when measured by 

value.