Bloomberg UK retail sales held up better than expected in September in the face of the intensifying Brexit crisis. The quantity of goods sold rose 0.2% from August when auto fuel is excluded, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. Sales including fuel were unchanged. A buoyant labour market has supported consumer spending through the turmoil since the 2016 referendum. ...

Bloomberg The UK competition regulator has started a review into Amazon.com Inc’s bid to buy a slice of fast-growing food delivery startup Deliveroo, adding to the e-tailing giant’s antitrust woes around the globe. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said on its website it’s investigating the purchase of rights and a minority shareholding in Roofoods Ltd, which does business under ...

Bloomberg Two of Europe’s biggest consumer-goods companies signalled a slowdown in China, whose consumers have driven global demand for everything from baby formula food to shampoo. Nestle SA said sales in the country were flat for the first nine months, while Unilever said business there “slowed a little” in the latest period. Nestle shares fell as much as 1.6% in ...