British citizens stopped spending as much in February, giving the weakest start to the year since 2012, figures from payments company Visa showed, raising the prospects that the broader economy will slow in the first quarter of 2018.
Visa said inflation-adjusted consumer spending in February was 1.1 percent lower than a year earlier, after a 1.2 percent decline in January.
During last year, Britain moved from being the fastest-growing major advanced economy to the slowest as consumer spending slowed.
On Friday, the National Institute for Economic and Social Research (NIESR) estimated that quarterly growth had weakened to 0.3 percent from 0.4 percent at the end of 2017 and that recent unusually snowy weather might deal a further blow to growth.
The dollar slipped against a currency basket on Monday after the latest U.S. jobs report showed that while jobs growth remained strong, boosting risk appetite, wage growth slowed, tempering expectations for a faster pace of rate hikes this year.
The euro gained today with little crucial economic data due in Europe, traders will focus on a meeting of the eurozone finance ministers later today for any comments on trade protectionism after President Donald Trump’s decision to impose some tariffs.
While the euro fell last week as the European Central Bank gave a more-dovish-than-expected meeting, traders have pushed the euro higher as they bet investors will continue to put more money into a region where the economies are booming.