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Investing.com -- Barclays (LON:BARC) on Thursday noted an increase in U.K. consumer spending, with discretionary purchases playing a key role.
According to the Barclays U.K. Spend Trends 2.0 signals, total spending increased by 1.5% year-on-year in the four weeks ending on May 2.
This growth, however, is slower than the 4.4% growth observed in the previous four weeks ending April 4, a change likely due to the timing of Easter, it said in a note.
The increase in spending was driven by all age groups, with the exception of those aged between 18-29. Offline purchases exceeded online ones, and spending on discretionary goods and services outpaced non-discretionary spending.
According to Barclays, spending increased year-on-year across most of the tracked sectors in the last four weeks. Digital Content, Other Retail, and Food & Beverage Service sectors were particularly strong, while Fuel and Motoring (excluding Fuel), and Hardware & DIY saw a decrease.
Clothing Retail managed to stay in positive territory for the second time in approximately six months.
Using a time series forecasting model, Barclays predicts that spending will continue to grow over the next four weeks, up by 3.9% year-on-year in the period ending May 30. Discretionary spending is expected to outperform non-discretionary spending.
Among sectors, Digital Content, Other Retail, Travel, and Leisure are forecast to perform strongly, while Motoring (excluding fuel), Hardware & DIY, and Home & Electronics are expected to see a decrease.