Black Friday sales and early Christmas shopping produced a surge in retail sales in November.
The volume rose by 1.1% compared with October and was 1.6% higher than the year before, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed. This was substantially more than the 0.4% monthly gain that economists had been expecting.
A weak October had led economists to conclude that consumers were feeling the squeeze from rising inflation and sluggish wage growth. Yet the offer of bargains appears to have shaken the gloom.
The ONS figures run up to November 24, so include Black Friday — a US tradition that has been adopted by the UK in which retailers offer significant discounts the day after Thanksgiving — but not Cyber Monday, the online pre-Christmas rush that fell on November 27.
The FT adds that economists are unsure how the November sales are affecting end-of-year spending patterns.
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