December 2018 Consumer Confidence Briefing

The monthly UK Consumer Confidence Barometer (CCB), undertaken by GfK on behalf of the European Commission*, fell by 1 point in December to -14, down 1 point on a year ago and the lowest score since July 2013.
Confidence is up in 2, and down in 4 of the 6 UK regions. Biggest gains are in Scotland and Northern Ireland which experienced slumps in November. In the former sentiment is 15 points up at -14 and in the latter, up 13 points at -23. The Midlands experienced the steepest decline in December, shedding 5 points to -12. In the South sentiment is 2 points down also at -12, while in the North and Wales confidence is 1 point lower at -15 and -16 respectively.
Of the 5 sub-measures comprising the headline measure:

• The financial situation of households over the past 12 months is 2 points higher at –1 on the month and on a year ago
• The expected financial situation of households over the next 12 months is 4 points down on November at -1 and 3 points lower than December 2017 (+2)
• The general economic situation measure over the past 12 months fell by 2 points in December to -31, and is unchanged on 12 months ago
• The general economic situation measure in the coming 12 months slumped on the month, by 6 points to -38, and is 10 points lower than December 2017 (-28)
• The measure of consumer sentiment to making major purchases in the current economic situation jumped by 5 points on the month to +2, up 6 points on a year ago

To read the briefing, please download the PDF version (top right)