UK Retail sales were softer than expected

Retail sales were softer than expected (ex-autos 0.2% m/m vs 0.5% consensus). The UK economist wouldcaution against reading too much into the data though, as it is a very difficult dataset to use for a broaderinterpretation of UK economic performance.

Separately, UK public sector borrowing (ex banking) for March at GBP7.4bn was a little higher than consensus, but downward revisions in the prior months mean the government had a total deficit of some GBP3bn lower in 2014-15 than the official estimate of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) at the Budget last month