Another rates rise looms after strong consumption data

Retail sales gained for the sixth month in a row, despite fears just ahead of Christmas that shops were having to discount goods early in order to get spenders through the door. Sales increased by 0.6% on December, and by 6.4% compared to January last year. Sales in the three months to January were up 1.7% on the previous three month period, with consumers spending heavily on clothing, footwear, household goods, and other non-food items, ONS says. The Bank of England’s last quarterly inflation report published earlier this month indicated that the interest rate rise of 0.25% in Nov...