British retail sales bounce back

British retail spending bounced back in July as sales promotions and good weather outweighed concerns that its vote to leave the EU would immediately hurt the economy.

Official data has been scarce since the June 23 referendum but most business and consumer surveys have pointed to a sharp slowdown, prompting the Bank of England to cut interest rates last week for the first time since 2009 and restart quantitative easing.

However, British retailers including Tesco, Next, and John Lewis say they have not so far been affected by the shock referendum result.