Rise in sales hands retailers early Christmas present

Fears of gift shortages have handed an early Christmas present to high street retailers. The CBI has recorded the strongest monthly rise in retail sales in November since May 1990. It added that it expected sales to remain at above seasonal norms to a similar extent next month. The CBI’s distributive trades survey, which questioned 125 companies, including 51 retailers, found that as year-on-year retail sales growth accelerated this month, internet sales fell for the first time since the survey asked that question in 2001. Ben Jones, the CBI’s lead economist, said: “Christmas seems to have come early for retailers, with clothing and department stores in particular seeing a big upward swing in November.” The Times (£) The Guardian