UK DATA: BRC Retail Sales Values Only Increase Y/Y Due to Food Inflation
BRC Retail Sales slowed again in October, posting a 1.6% Y/Y increase in value terms (vs 2.3% September). The year-on-year growth in the value of retail sales was the weakest since May and was almost entirely driven by food sales, which in turn were almost entirely driven by food price inflation.
- Food sales rose at a slower pace than September, rising 3.5% Y/Y (vs 4.3%). Again, the press release noted that the positive figure "was mostly driven by higher prices rather than higher volumes". The year-on-year rate is now at its lowest since May, but we note that the BRC shop price index and official ONS data both show a slowdown in food price inflation recently, so its hard to know how whether there is much of a slowdown here in volume terms.
- Non-food almost flatlined at 0.1% Y/Y (vs 0.7% Sep), mostly driven by a notable downward contribution from the "Other non-food" subcategory. Note that when taking into account inflation, non-food sales volumes were probably overall lower than a year ago.
- The press release highlighted that October saw a slowdown in the sale of many household goods, after sustained strength "linked to the lagged benefit from the house buying surge seen before Stamp Duty changes in Spring". Upcoming releases should show whether this is a result of a moderation in the housing market or more cautious consumers.
- Consumers awaiting Black Friday deals, as well as continued Budget-driven caution and subdued consumer confidence were also highlighted as downward drivers by the BRC.
- The ONS's retail sales volume index will see October data released on 21 November, following four consecutive M/M increases including a 0.5% M/M rise in September. Today's BRC release covers the same 4 weeks as the ONS report (from 5 October - 1 November 2025).
Want to read more?
Find more articles and bullets on these widgets:
Historical bullets
US: Trump Oval Office Announcement Underway Shortly
US President Donald Trump is shortly due to deliver an announcement in the White House Oval Office. LIVESTREAM The announcement is expected to relate to drug pricing and could follow a similar template to a recent pledge from Pfizer.
- The announcement will be Trump's first press remarks since a market-moving Truth Social statement earlier today in which Trump suggested calling off a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping and raising tariffs on China in response to new export controls from Beijing on rare earths. See earlier bullets here and here.
RATINGS: Moody's Completes Periodic Review Of Belgium, No Rating Action
No ratings actions for Belgium from Moody's, which is quoted in a press release on Bloomberg: "Moody's Ratings (Moody's) has completed a periodic review of the ratings of Belgium and other ratings that are associated with this issuer. The review was conducted through a rating committee held on 2 October 2025 in which we reassessed the appropriateness of the ratings in the context of the relevant principal methodology(ies), and recent developments. This publication does not announce a credit rating action and is not an indication of whether or not a credit rating action is likely in the near future."
- There had been some speculation there could be a ratings action - MNI wrote Thursday: "* Moody's on Belgium (Current rating Aa3, Outlook Negative): We expect Moody's to maintain their current stance in the absence of 2026 budget details."
MACRO ANALYSIS: US Macro Week Ahead: No CPI, But Plenty Of Pre-Blackout FedSpeak
Below is the week’s data schedule, with MNI’s annotation of whether or not data will be postponed.
- As we went to press, the Fed announced that next week's Industrial Production data will be postponed (was due to be published next Friday Oct 17) as the data “incorporate a range of data from other government agencies, the publication of which has been delayed as a result of the federal government shutdown.”
- We won’t be getting September CPI as scheduled on Oct 15, but at least the BLS announced it will publish the data on Oct 24.
- As such next week we’ll be looking at some under-covered data points, including the Redbook weekly and Chicago Fed’s CARTS retail sales data (in lieu of the Census Bureau retail sales report), with a little more focus than usual on regional Fed manufacturing indices (NY, Philadelphia).
- Once again, the dearth of tier-one data leaves Fed commentary in focus ahead of the pre-FOMC blackout period: highlights for us are Philadelphia Fed President Paulson making her first comments on monetary policy on Monday since being appointed in the summer, while as always Chair Powell bears watching on Tuesday (we also hear from Bowman, Waller, Collins, Miran, Schmid, and Musalem).
- Additionally we get the latest Beige Book which was already key given the FOMC was already increasingly focused on anecdotal information as it attempts to navigate murky economic waters.
