The news: Demand for electronics—and splashy releases like Apple’s iPhone 16 and Google’s Pixel 9 phones—pushed UK retail sales unexpectedly into positive territory in September, per the Office for National Statistics.

• Retail sales volumes rose 0.3% month over month (MoM), to the surprise of economists polled by Bloomberg who forecast a 0.4% decline.
• On a year-over-year (YoY) basis, sales volumes rose 3.9%, the biggest increase since February 2022.