Posted on 08/18/2016 7:03:28 AM PDT by BenLurkin
The figures, among the first pieces of hard evidence on the economy’s performance after the U.K.’s decision to leave the European Union, suggest households largely shrugged off the surprise referendum result and kept spending.
The British pound rose on the news, climbing 1% against the dollar to $1.3169 after the data exceeded expectations.
The Office for National Statistics said Thursday that retail sales rose 1.4% on the month in July and were 5.9% higher than a year earlier. The official statistics agency said sales increased in all categories of stores it monitors, with sales at department stores and clothing outlets leading the gains.
The figures were much stronger than economists polled by The Wall Street Journal were predicting. Economists forecast sales would be broadly flat on the month, and 4.2% higher than July 2015.
The upbeat figures are the latest in a mixed bag of data published in the immediate aftermath of the vote. A series of surveys painted a gloomy picture of consumer sentiment and business activity, but labor market data Wednesday showed the number of people claiming out-of-work benefits fell in July. The Bank of England’s network of regional agents reported that firms weren’t planning any big changes to their hiring and investment plans for the moment.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
lol
Any Brexit effects will be years in coming.
The Brits voted to exit... but it’s slow and complicated.
Divorce takes a while.
What the sky did not fall , because the British people voted to save their country?
Fewer worries about regulations the Brussels bureaucracy has unleashed upon them, not to mention jihadis posing as immigrants makes for a shopping experience with more choice and less danger. And you might even be willing to pay a little more with the weakened pound sterling.
It is the same reasons not everybody shops at a Wal-Mart Super Center even though they may offer, overall, the best pricing and selection.
They will be fine. They are too big of a market and contribute too much to the EU economy, in or out of the EU, to be ignored. It will largely be business as usualy.
Britain can, on its own terms, meet whatever standards the EU wants without having to be a part of it.
Exactly. Which is why all of this blather about how Britain is doing now without the EU is silly, as well as premature.
Well, the left can take solace in the fact that Britain is STILL a socialist country. Even though they do not like the face that EU-level socialism has been rejected.
Britain will prosper in the long haul by the Brexit decision as to not be dragged down by loser countries of the EU.
What Brexit is that? Nothing has been done to start the process and probably never will
The rest of the EU will be called “The Turkish Empire” in a few years anyway.
That’s great! The leftists are crestfallen, I am sure.
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