The 1.3% decline in retail sales in May is arguably a lot better than it looks because there were big upward revisions to the April data and spending on food and drink services posted another solid increase last month, with the latter suggesting that the recovery in services consumption is on a solid footing. While real consumption still looks likely to have fallen in May, the offsetting positive news means we are sticking to our forecast that consumption will rise by 10% annualised in the second quarter.
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