Introduction: UK retail sales fall in wet March
Good morning, and welcome to our ongoing coverage of business, financial markets, and the global economy.
British consumers bought fewer things last month as inflation ate into household budgets and damp weather drove shoppers away from the high street.
Retail sales volumes in Britain fell 0.9% in March, new figures from the Office for National Statistics show.
That follows a 1.1% rise in February 2023, which had raised hopes for economic growth this year.
On an annual basis, overall retail sales volumes fell 3.1% last month compared to March 2022. However, shoppers spent 4.5% further buy lesswhich reflects price increases over the past year, as this chart shows:
The ONS reports that sales volumes at “non-food stores” fell 1.3% during March, after a 2.4% increase in February. Retailers blamed “poor weather conditions for most of March” for affecting sales.
Grocery store sales volumes fell 0.7% in March 2023, after a 0.6% increase in February 2023.
Food prices have skyrocketed further, with food and drink inflation at a 45-year high above 19%.
However, there are some signs that consumer confidence is improving. The consumer confidence index issued by market researcher GfK has risen six points to minus 30 in April.
That follows a two-point rise in the previous month and could be an early sign of an economic recovery.
The latest UK, Eurozone-wide and US PMI surveys will show how businesses are faring this month.
The agenda
-
7am BST: UK retail sales figures for March
-
9am BST: Eurozone ‘flash’ purchasing manager surveys for April
-
9.30am BST: UK ‘flash’ purchasing manager surveys for April
-
2:45pm BST: US Purchasing Manager ‘flash’ surveys for April
key events
Horror novelist Stephen King discovered he still has a blue check following Thursday’s purge of legacy verified accounts.
Last November, King had declared that he would not pine for Twitter Blue, telling his seven million followers that Musk should pay him to produce content on the social media site.
King, who had vowed to ‘go like Enron’ if Elon Musk started charging a fee for verification, insists he hasn’t signed up…
My Twitter account says I signed up for Twitter Blue. I have not done it
My Twitter account says that I have given a phone number. I have not done it— Stephen King (@StephenKing) April 20, 2023
…prompting Musk to reply that King was ‘welcome’:
The world’s second-richest man appears to be contributing to some accounts, including the basketball player. lebron James and actor William Shatneras The Verge explains here.
I am paying some personally.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 20, 2023
Elon Musk’s Twitter Disconnects ‘Verified’ Blue Ticks
Kari Pablo
Twitter has finally removed its “legacy” blue checks from previously verified Twitter accounts, as the policies implemented under new owner Elon Musk began to take hold.writes my colleague Kari Paul.
Musk, who bought the company for $44 billion in 2022 and has struggled to make it profitable so far, has been threatening to scrap what he called “legacy blue checks” for months. The verification mark previously denoted accounts whose authenticity had been verified and was assigned to accounts of celebrities, journalists, and media outlets.
Now users seeking verification will have to pay for Twitter Blue, a controversial $8-a-month subscription program under which any account can earn a blue checkmark.
The release of the changes on Thursday was chaotic. Numerous high-profile users took to the platform to say they would not pay for blue checkmarks under the new policy, while others announced they were leaving the platform altogether.
Nonprofit organizations Human Rights Watch and the NAACP they have tweeted they will not pay for Twitter Blue.
Famous names like Hillary Clinton, Bill Gates, Kim Kardashian and Justin Bieber are among those who are no longer verified.
Economist mariana mazucato is one of many criticizing the move, accusing Musk of a ‘whimsical whim’:
lost my @Twitter blue tick tonight on a whimsical whim as a little boy @Elon Musk. So be it. But why oh why would someone pay for their little games, greed and short attention span? An insult to human intelligence. Take advantage of.
— Mariana Mazzucato (@MazzucatoM) April 20, 2023
Introduction: UK retail sales fall in wet March
Good morning, and welcome to our ongoing coverage of business, financial markets, and the global economy.
British consumers bought fewer things last month as inflation ate into household budgets and damp weather drove shoppers away from the high street.
Retail sales volumes in Britain fell 0.9% in March, new figures from the Office for National Statistics show.
That follows a 1.1% rise in February 2023, which had raised hopes for economic growth this year.
On an annual basis, overall retail sales volumes fell 3.1% last month compared to March 2022. However, shoppers spent 4.5% further buy lesswhich reflects price increases over the past year, as this chart shows:
The ONS reports that sales volumes at “non-food stores” fell 1.3% during March, after a 2.4% increase in February. Retailers blamed “poor weather conditions for most of March” for affecting sales.
Grocery store sales volumes fell 0.7% in March 2023, after a 0.6% increase in February 2023.
Food prices have skyrocketed further, with food and drink inflation at a 45-year high above 19%.
However, there are some signs that consumer confidence is improving. The consumer confidence index issued by market researcher GfK has risen six points to minus 30 in April.
That follows a two-point rise in the previous month and could be an early sign of an economic recovery.
The latest UK, Eurozone-wide and US PMI surveys will show how businesses are faring this month.
The agenda
-
7am BST: UK retail sales figures for March
-
9am BST: Eurozone ‘flash’ purchasing manager surveys for April
-
9.30am BST: UK ‘flash’ purchasing manager surveys for April
-
2:45pm BST: US Purchasing Manager ‘flash’ surveys for April