This was buried deep on the BBC website today:
"Retail sales volumes grew in December for the first time since May, the CBI has said, but were still considered weak for this time of year. The CBI's monthly Distributive Trades Survey found 41% of retailers had seen sales rise in the first two weeks of December, while 32% saw sales fall. The positive balance of 9% was better than had been expected.
However, the CBI warned that the uplift was not expected to last, with sales expected to fall again in January. Judith McKenna, chair of the CBI Distributive Trades Panel, said: 'Early discounting helped retailers add a little extra sparkle to their sales in December, although the reprieve appears to only be temporary as they don't expect sales to continue to grow into January.'"
You can almost hear the little wheels spinning in the spokesperson's brain as she tries to find a way to put a negative spin on a positive survey. The last part is especially good: "they don't expect sales to continue to grow in January"! Well, they didn't expect them to grow in December either, but annoyingly, that's exactly what just happened.
Meanwhile, Germany's Ifo indicator, a key signal of business confidence, just recorded a sharp improvement, which was reported in the UK media as -- guess what? -- a surprise. Spain sold a big tranche of debt today at yields way lower than at the previous auction. And the US economy is continuing to do much better than anyone expected, the latest positive indicator being a big jump in housing starts in November.
So take a break from all the doomsters and gloomsters, and have a happy Christmas. Thanks for reading the blog over the past year -- there have been visitors from places as far-flung as Iran and Paraguay. Please stop by again in 2012, because I'm sure we'll have plenty to talk about.
Update, 21 December: John Lewis says its sales this month are running 10% above last year's levels....UK government borrowing in November was 10% down on November 2010....
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