Shoppers stay home as consumer confidence drops to lowest since 2008 Business

ggood morning.

There is more evidence of the cost of living crisis this morning, with two sets of data indicating severe pressure on household finances.

The latest figures from the ONS showed retail sales fell 1.4% in March. This is much worse than the 0.3 pc drop that economists were expecting.

Meanwhile, a GfK survey showed consumer confidence fell for the fifth month in a row to -38. This is the lowest since the height of the financial crisis in 2008.

5 things to start your day

1) Disney stripped of special tax status in Florida for ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill Republican Governor Ron DeSantis is waging war on Sunshine State’s largest private employer

2) The Issa brothers plan to open more Leon and Cooplands branches at gas stations Asda’s billionaire owners to create 22,700 cafe and bakery jobs

3) CNN shuts down its streaming service after just a month CNN+ was used by less than 10,000 people at any given time

4) Bankers traumatized by their boss’ “emotional terrorism” BNP Paribas fires manager accused of verbal ‘waterboarding’ after dressing up

5) Hackers for Hire Try to Destroy the Reputation of a Hedge Fund Manager More: Reign of terror as hackers for hire step up corporate espionage

What happened overnight

Asian markets fell sharply at the open on Friday, lagging Wall Street’s losses after the head of the US Federal Reserve said an interest rate hike was likely.

coming today

• Business : No major corporate announcements planned
• Economy: Retail sales (UK)consumer confidence (UK)PMI services (UK, US, EU)Manufacturing PMI (UK, US, EU)Compound PMI (US, EU)