"[U.K.] employment remains fragile and wage growth weak"
- Ross Walker, chief U.K. economist at Royal Bank of Scotland Group
U.K. retails sales declined by the most since 2010 in April on fall in petrol sales and bad weather. Sales edged lower by 2.3 from March, said the Office for National Statistics.
"The headline number is very very weak indeed, but that's mainly due to the effect of lower fuel sales over the threatened strike period. Nonetheless, stripping that out, there is still a big drop in sales, which is probably weather-related," said Philip Shaw, from Investec.
"So it's very difficult to get a gauge of underlying strength of High Street activity from these numbers, given so very big distorting factors."
"The underlying picture is sluggish," said Ross Walker, chief U.K. economist at Royal Bank of Scotland Group in London. "Employment remains fragile and wage growth weak."
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