Happy Shoppers: The London Rush

Hi, I’m Charles from Bloomberg UK’s breaking news team, catching you up on this morning’s business stories.

There's a fair bit of doom and gloom surrounding the British economy, with Labour forever moaning about a £22 billion black hole and the inevitability of tax hikes. But things can't be that bad — after all, the consumer is still spending.

Both Next and Ocado’s retail arm raised guidance this morning, posting sales figures that beat analyst expectations.