LONDON (Reuters) – British retail sales were flat in November, despite a boost from tablet computers, reflecting still weak consumer confidence and increasing the chance that the broader economy will contract in the final quarter of 2012.

Retail sales volumes were stagnant on the month to give an annual rise of just 0.9 percent, the Office for National Statistics said on Thursday – below economists’ forecasts for both monthly and annual sales growth.

LONDON (Reuters) – The economy is likely to remain stagnant in the near term but inflation will probably exceed 2 percent in the next year and also faces further risks from higher food prices, Bank of England policymakers said on Wednesday.

After its December 5-6 meeting, the BoE’s Monetary Policy Committee decided to keep its main interest rate at a record-low 0.5 percent and its bond purchases at 375 billion pounds as expected, with stubborn inflation trumping worries about a sluggish economy.

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s economy is likely to remain stagnant in the near term but inflation will probably exceed 2 percent in the next year and also faces further risks from higher food prices, Bank of England policymakers said on Wednesday.

After its December 5-6 meeting, the BoE’s Monetary Policy Committee decided to keep its main interest rate at a record-low 0.5 percent and its bond purchases at 375 billion pounds as expected, with stubborn inflation trumping worries about a sluggish economy.

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s economy is likely to remain stagnant in the near term but inflation will probably exceed 2 percent in the next year and also faces further risks from higher food prices, Bank of England policymakers said on Wednesday.

After its December 5-6 meeting, the BoE’s Monetary Policy Committee decided to keep its main interest rate at a record-low 0.5 percent and its bond purchases at 375 billion pounds as expected, with stubborn inflation trumping worries about a sluggish economy.

LONDON, Dec 18 (Reuters) – UK inflation stayed at its
highest level since May last month, confounding forecasts it
would ease and potentially giving the Bank of England less room
to resume quantitative easing to support the struggling economy.

The data released on Tuesday, showing annual consumer price
inflation held at 2.7 percent after a surprise jump in October,
will reinforce Bank of England concerns that price pressures may
prove persistent and restrain consumer spending.

LONDON (Reuters) – UK inflation stayed at its highest level since May last month, confounding forecasts it would ease and potentially giving the Bank of England less room to resume quantitative easing to support the struggling economy.

The data released on Tuesday, showing annual consumer price inflation held at 2.7 percent after a surprise jump in October, will reinforce Bank of England concerns that price pressures may prove persistent and restrain consumer spending.

LONDON, Dec 14 (Reuters) – British construction output grew
in October, raising the prospect that the sector will boost
gross domestic product in the fourth quarter and help the
economy avoid a forecast contraction.

The annual decline in construction output slowed to 5.1
percent – the lowest since February and less than half of a 13.2
percent plunge in September.

LONDON (Reuters) – The Bank of England has no need to follow its U.S. and Canadian counterparts in committing to an extended period of low interest rates, a senior BoE policymaker said on Thursday.

Paul Fisher, the BoE’s executive director for markets, also said the government should be wary about changing the bank’s inflation target – shortly before Chancellor George Osborne publicly raised the prospect with legislators.

LONDON (Reuters) – Britons’ living standards are likely to fall further, and there is little the Bank of England can do about it, the central bank’s chief economist warned on Wednesday.

Spencer Dale said Britain’s economy still had further to go to adjust to the aftermath of the financial crisis, and that a mix of slow wage growth and stubborn inflation is likely while that happens.

LONDON (Reuters) – British industrial production unexpectedly fell in October after factory output posted its biggest drop since June, reinforcing fears that the economy will shrink again at the end of this year.

It combined with weak trade data earlier in the week to cast doubt on lingering government hopes of an export-led recovery.