Retail sales drop as restaurants welcome diners back – live updates

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good morning.

Retail sales posted a surprising 2.5 percent drop in July compared to June, according to the latest official data, denting the post-lockdown recovery.

Economists had expected monthly retail sales to rise by 0.4 percent after a 0.5 percent increase in June.

Sales of non-food stores such as computers and sports equipment caused sales to decline with a 4.4 percent drop, while sales of food stores fell 1.5 percent last month after the June payment from the euro disappeared.

Meanwhile, the FTSE 100 is set to rise about 0.16% after yesterday’s plunge to a three-week low that left it above the 7000 mark.

5 things to start your day

1) Ex-Tesco boss vie for Morrisons: Sir Terry Leahy’s private equity firm had a £7 billion bid accepted by the supermarket’s board and insisting it would appreciate Morrisons’ business model.

2) Net-zero switch threatens new oil shock, chief economist warns: The transition should be worth it, but politicians left it too late for work and failed to be honest about costs, warns Jean Pisani-Verry.

3) Don’t block Ultra Electronics deal, chief ministers shareholder says halting the takeover would be “political and economic suicide,” the investor tells The Telegraph, and could have consequences for other defense companies.

4) OnlyFans bans explicit content because it looks to raise money: Tech unicorn OnlyFans was in talks to raise funding earlier this year, in an effort to move away from adult entertainment.

5) Philip Morris boss attacks critics as Vectura bid tests investors: Jacek Olczak claims critics of the £1.1 billion takeover are “disinterested in progress” and want to prevent the company from staying away from cigarettes.

What happened overnight

Asian stocks extended losses on Friday from their 2021 low hit the previous day, while the dollar held its recent gains at a nine-month high.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.75 percent, with Chinese blue chips down 1.22 percent and Hong Kong down 0.53 percent.

Japan’s Nikkei index fell 0.53 percent, and US stock futures, the electronic Standard & Poor’s 500, fell 0.26 percent.

The day before, stock and oil markets in Asia and Europe fell sharply and the dollar rose to a nine-month high, after the prospect of the Federal Reserve cutting bond purchases spooked investors.

It also sent the dollar to its highest level since early November, gains it held on Friday.

Today comes for companies: Kingspan (interim) Economies: Retail Sales for July, Government borrowing, Consumer Confidence (UK).

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