Whatās Going On Here?Data out on Friday showed that UK retail sales unexpectedly climbed last month. What Does This Mean?Amazon Prime Day has so much clout in the UK these days that there were 4.8% more online sales in July than there were in June, with shoppers grabbing nice-to-haves on the cheap while they had the chance. That uptick helped lift retail sales by 0.3% over the same period, even as economists had expected them to drop off.
But that obscures the rest of the story, with sales of clothing, household goods, and fuel all on the decline. Strip out online sales, in fact, and there were 3.4% fewer retail sales than the same time last year. More interestingly still, the value of those sales was up 7.8%, which goes to show that Brits are buying far less for far moreā¦ (tweet this) Why Should I Care?Zooming in: The UK is circling the drain.
It stands to reason that data out on Friday also showed UK consumer confidence fell to a record low in August, which could cause retail sales to slump more going forward. Britsā outlook for the next year of their personal finances, meanwhile, is now even bleaker than it was during the financial crisis. This caps off a week of mounting evidence that the UK economy is hurtling toward a recession, even if it might suggest that the Bank of Englandās anti-inflation efforts are starting to work.
For you personally: Your next steps.
There are a few things you can do to navigate this situation. If you can pay off more of your debt sooner, do: interest rates are bound to rise even more as the Bank of England keeps trying to get a handle on inflation. Likewise, if youāre due to remortgage, try to fast-track the process before lenders raise mortgage rates. And if youāre investing, diversify your portfolio so that any losses from one asset could be balanced out by gains in another. | 