U.K. Consumer Sentiment Dives Most Since 1994 on Brexit Effect

U.K. consumer confidence plunged the most in 21 years, the latest sign that Britons’ vote to leave the European Union is harming the nation’s outlook.

Gfk’s core index slid to minus 9 in a special post-referendum survey conducted from June 30 to July 5, from minus 1 earlier in June. That’s the biggest slide since December 1994 when increases in tax, interest rates and job insecurity weighed on spending. While confidence among respondents who said they voted to remain in the EU dropped to minus 13, the decline was tempered by a lesser slide of minus 5 among those who said they opted to leave.

Anxiety is growing as investors and households try to gauge the economic ramifications of the June 23 decision. With both major political parties engaged in heated leadership battles and the politicians who campaigned to leave slow to put forward plans of what a post-Brexit relationship with the EU will look like, the exit strategy may remain unknown for months to come.

Bloomberg

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