Weather, Promos Drive UK Retail Sales Beat in May

UK retail sales beat consensus estimates in May, fueled by warm weather and promotions, according to data from the Office for National Statistics published Friday.

Britain's retail sector saw its monthly sales grow 1.2%, above an expected 0.5% gain and following a revised 1% slump a month ago. Retail sales were up 3.2% annually, compared with the previous month's revised 0.1% uptick and the 1.9% increase expected by the market.

UK retail sales volumes ticked up 0.4% in the three months to May compared with the three months ending in February, and rose 1.4% against the same three-month period a year ago.

Excluding fuel, core UK retail sales increased by 1.2% month-on-month and 4.6% on an annual basis, surpassing market forecasts of 0.4% and 3.3% growth, respectively. The performance also represents an increase from April's data, which showed a revised 0.1% monthly contraction and a 1.1% annual gain.

"Feedback from retailers suggested the hot weather in May helped sales of items such as fans and paddling pools," ONS senior statistician Jon Gough said. "Computers and telecom stores continued to do well following product launches in March, while online retailers also performed strongly, with feedback suggesting that this was helped by promotions. These were only slightly offset by a small fall in food sales."

The ONS also noted that department stores' sales volumes climbed 2.7%, driven by "strong" monthly gains in May 2026. The figure marked the biggest three-month growth since September 2024.

Japan's Core Inflation Holds Steady in May as Headline Inflation Ticks Up

Japan's core consumer prices held their annual pace in May while the headline rate ticked higher, according to data from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications on Friday.The figures arrived three days after the Bank of Japan raised interest rates to their highest level in three decades on Tuesday with a 7-1 vote, as policymakers grew more concerned about inflation risks stemming from higher energy costs.The core consumer price index, which strips out volatile fresh food prices and is the BOJ's preferred inflation gauge, rose 1.4% year over year in May, unchanged from April's reading.The latest print was in line with the consensus forecast tracked by Investing.com.Month over month, core CPI climbed 0.4% on a seasonally adjusted basis, rebounding from zero change between March and April.The "core-core" inflation, which excludes both fresh food and energy prices, eased slightly to 1.8% from 1.9% in April, falling below the Trading Economics forecast of 1.9%.Japan's nationwide headline CPI climbed 1.5% year over year in May, faster than the 1.4% increase in April, but missing the Trading Economics forecast of 1.6%.On a seasonally adjusted month-over-month basis, headline inflation accelerated to 0.4% from 0.1% the previous month.Fresh food was the primary driver behind the uptick in headline inflation, with the fresh food index rising 3.5% year over year in May, versus the 0.3% annual growth in April. The category contributed 0.14 percentage points to the headline print.The CPI data was published just days after the BOJ concluded its June 15-16 policy meeting, where the policy board voted to increase the short-term policy rate by 25 basis points to 1.0% from 0.75%.At the latest meeting, the board warned that the pass-through of higher crude oil prices has been progressing relatively quickly in business-to-business transactions and could spread to consumer prices across a wide range of goods."There is a risk of underlying CPI inflation deviating upward to a level above the price stability target of 2 percent," the BOJ said.The BOJ published the minutes of its earlier April meeting on Friday, where members noted that if crude oil prices remained elevated, "risks to prices were skewed to the upside."One member noted in April that while the price stability target of 2% "had been more or less achieved," Japan's real policy interest rate was "at the lowest level globally," suggesting the need for the BOJ to continue adjusting the negative real interest rate ahead of an anticipated second-round effects of inflation stemming from overseas developments.At the press conference for the latest rate hike earlier this week, BOJ Deputy Governor Uchida struck a hawkish tone, according to analysts."Listening to Uchida's remarks, the timing of the next rate hike will likely depend on how quickly energy supply disruptions are resolved," said ING Think Senior Economist Min Joo Kang."The BoJ is likely to focus less on headline inflation and more on its new price measure. It features core inflation, while stripping out distortions from government measures. As such, it should better capture underlying inflation."ING expects the BOJ's preferred inflation measure to stay above 2%, citing firm wage growth, second-round effects from oil price hikes and a weak yen.

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Update: Equities Rise, Oil Little Changed as Focus Shifts to Further US-Iran Talks

(Updates with market moves at the end of the day.)US benchmark equity indexes closed higher Thursday and oil prices were little changed as markets evaluated the prospects of further talks between Washington and Iran following a preliminary agreement to end the Middle East conflict.The Nasdaq Composite added 1.9% to 26,517.9. The S&P 500 rose 1.1% to 7,500.6, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.1% higher at 51,564.7.Among sectors, technology led the gainers, while energy saw the biggest drop.US markets will be closed Friday for the Juneteenth National Independence Day holiday.The US and Iran have signed a memorandum of understanding to end their war and reopen the critical Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping. Both parties have at least 60 days to hammer out a final deal.But some analysts have flagged the possibility of implementation risks and potential disagreements.As part of the preliminary deal, the US and regional partners will develop a plan providing at least $300 billion in economic development financing for Tehran. Iran agreed that it will not procure or develop nuclear weapons.In addition, the MOU declares an "immediate and permanent" end of all military operations, including in Lebanon.West Texas Intermediate crude oil was little changed at $76.81 a barrel in Thursday late-afternoon trade, while Brent was up 0.1% to $79.63.The Federal Reserve is unlikely to raise interest rates anytime soon, if at all, despite the removal of the so-called easing bias from its monetary policy statement, Stifel said Thursday.The US central bank held its key interest rate steady on Wednesday for the fourth straight time, while upgrading inflation and interest rate expectations.New Fed Chair Kevin Warsh announced a series of taskforces to review areas including communication, data sources and inflation frameworks.US Treasury yields were mixed in late-afternoon trade, with the two-year rate last seen up about 1.8 basis points at 4.18% and the 10-year rate falling 0.8 basis points to 4.46%.In company news, Intel (INTC) closed 11% higher Thursday, among the top gainers on the S&P 500. US President Donald Trump announced that Apple (AAPL) had agreed to partner with Intel to design and manufacture chips domestically.Wedbush Securities said the chip production agreement is a major growth opportunity for Intel.Apple shares rose 0.7%.Sandisk (SNDK) shares closed 12% nearly higher, top performer on the S&P 500.Accenture (ACN) shares finished 18% lower, the steepest decline on the index. The company trimmed the top end of its full-year revenue growth outlook as its sales fell short of market expectations in the fiscal third quarter, while the consulting firm announced three acquisition deals worth about $4.18 billion.Gold was down 3.4% at $4,233.30 per troy ounce, while silver slumped 7.1% to $66.24 per ounce.

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Pfizer Names Interim Finance Chief as CFO Quits; Drugmaker Affirms Full-Year Outlook

Pfizer (PFE) named an interim head of finance on Thursday as it announced the departure of Chief Financial Officer Dave Denton.Cecile Guegan, the US drugmaker's senior vice president of finance for the global biopharmaceutical business, will serve as interim CFO, beginning Aug. 16, Pfizer said in a statement. Guegan has been with Pfizer for more than 20 years.Denton will leave the company on Aug. 15, having accepted an opportunity in the consumer goods industry, Pfizer said.Separately, the company affirmed its fiscal 2026 guidance, according to a regulatory filing.It continues to expect full-year adjusted per-share earnings of $2.80 to $3 and revenue between $59.5 billion to $62.5 billion. Analysts in a FactSet poll are looking for non-GAAP EPS of $2.96 on sales of $61.74 billion.Pfizer previously reported 2025 adjusted EPS of $3.22 and revenue of $62.58 billion.Last month, Pfizer posted higher-than-expected first-quarter results as robust demand across its key brands offset weakening sales of its COVID-19 products.Shares of Pfizer were down 2.7% in late afternoon trade on Thursday. The stock is up 1.3% so far this year.Price: $25.29, Change: $-0.64, Percent Change: -2.45%

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