Business

Retail sales fall despite World Cup and hot weather boosting alcohol and drinks trade – business live

The Guardian Business · 21 August 2026 at 07:24

Retail sales fall despite World Cup and hot weather boosting alcohol and drinks trade – business live

Rolling coverage of the latest events in global financial markets, the economy and major corporate moves Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.

Retail sales fell in July after a bumper period the previous month, despite the World Cup luring punters into pubs and the hot weather boosting alcoholic drink sales in supermarkets.

7am BST: ONS retail sales data 7am BST: ONS public finances 9am BST: Flash PMI eurozone 9.30am BST: UK flash PMI 2.45pm BST: US flash PMI Continue reading...

Read the full article on The Guardian Business ›

5News aggregated this summary from the outlet’s public feed. The full article, with all the context, is on www.theguardian.com — the content belongs to The Guardian Business.

Retail sales fall despite World Cup and hot weather boosting alcohol and drinks trade – business live

More from The Guardian Business

BT on track for estimated £2bn windfall from selling old copper amid AI boom

Iran’s economy in crisis as US launches new sanctions campaign

Anthropic sued over alleged theft of ‘tens of thousands’ of songs

The London office, the empty boxes and the £1bn tax loophole

More in Business

Trump says data centre critics ‘want to end up backwards and poor’

Lionel Messi announces retirement from international football

Prediction platform Kalshi bans ex-US Congress member for manipulation

Trump says US will hit Iran ‘hard’ as conflict reignites

P&O Ferries data breach as passengers' personal details sent out in text message

Whose fiscal problems would you prefer?