UK consumer confidence grows

GfK’s long-running Consumer Confidence Index increased six points to -30 for June, with all five measures of confidence up in the month.

Joe Staton, GfK’s client strategy director, said: “We have a six-point uptick in the Overall Index Score with all measures up and particularly strong increases in future perceptions of personal finances and the economy. But we still have a story that’s about negative numbers so it’s too early to say that consumers are moving on from the Covid-19 crisis.”

He added: “This latest improvement may be misleading. Consumers appear to be confused and some are not sure what to think. Yes, we have seen queues as some shoppers return to battered high streets. But with economists warning that the post-lockdown upturn might not restore GDP to pre-Covid-19 levels, and with the labour market set for more job losses, we have to question whether we are seeing early signs of economic recovery or that infamous ‘dead cat bounce’. Most bets will be on the dead cat.”

The UK Consumer Confidence Index was conducted among a sample of 2,000 individuals aged over 16-years-old on behalf of the European Commission.