UK sales bounce back

UK retail sales and services rebound in JuneNew data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show sales volumes rose by 13.9% in June compared with the month before, bringing total sales across the country close to last year's levels. Helen Dickinson, chief of the British Retail Consortium, said: "Though a month of growth is welcome news, retail is not out of the woods yet. The pandemic continues to pose huge challenges to the industry, with ongoing store closures and job losses across the UK.” Separately, the IHS Markit/CIPS UK composite purchasing managers' index jumped to 57.1 in July from 47.7 in June. The manufacturing reading rose to 53.6, up from 50.1, and services rose from 47.1 to 56.6. Chris Williamson, chief business economist at IHS Markit, said: "The surge in activity in July will fuel expectations that the economy will return to growth in the third quarter after having suffered the sharpest contraction in modern history during the second quarter."