Winter recession fears for UK after fall in retail sales – as it happened

Bond yields fall as retail sales volumes across Great Britain fall to their lowest level since February 2021, amid cost of living squeeze and wet weather

• Full story: Fall in retail sales in Great Britain signals high street recession
• Poor month for household goods and clothing stores

Today's retail sales report also shows that shoppers are shunning specialist food stores in favour of supermarkets, in the cost of living squeeze.

Supermarkets reported an increase in sales volumes of 0.2% in October, while specialist food stores such as butchers and bakers reported that sales volumes fell by 4.2%.

The question at hand is are we saving up our cash, squirrelling it away in order to make the most of those big promotional days like Black Friday, or have price pressures pushed people to rethink Christmas plans entirely?

What is particularly interesting is the food sector. Even here spending is down but it's where that spend has fallen which alludes to the impact rising mortgage costs are having on middle income families.