Top story
Consumer spending on food increased at its fastest annual rate for more than a year in February, according to the latest Visa spending index.
Expenditure on food rose by almost 5% last month, despite spending on eating out continuing to increase.
Overall consumer spending also was up in February, 2.2% the figure was behind the 2.5% growth registered in January.
Visa Europe said the leap in consumer spending in February was mainly driven by an almost 14% jump in spending in the hotels, restaurants and bar industry, up from 10% in January, as couple celebrated Valentine’s Day.
However, Annabel Fiddes, an economist at Markit, which carried out the survey for Visa warned that despite a further “robust” rise in spending, the global slowdown could hit consumer expenditure going forward.
“Growth appeared broad-based, with consumers increasing their spend solidly on day trips and meals out, while food and drink categories saw the fastest annual increase in spending for over a year.
“However, the outlook for 2016 is becoming increasingly uncertain, as the global economy shows further signs of a slowdown. This, in time, may feed through to lower consumer confidence and spending.”
Morning update
There is very little in the way of sector news this morning on the Stock Exchange. The FTSE 100 has started the week in the red, opening 0.4% down this morning to 6,175.84 points.
This week in the City
Despite a quiet start on the stock exchange, news will heat up latest this week, starting tomorrow with the latest BRC-KPMG retail sales index for February and the latest Kantar and Nielsen grocery market share data. Thursday brings the Morrisons finals, as well as the annual results of the John Lewis Partnership and Waitrose. Plus there is also the much-awaited Home Retail Group Q4 trading update.
No comments yet