UK retail sales spooked by Brexit, as German factory orders slide - as it happened
(The Guardian Germany)

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news, as UK retailers suffer their worst September since at least 1995Latest: BRC retail survey shows consumers sufferingEurozone investor confidence weakest since 2013Introduction: German factory orders fell 6.7% year-on-yearOrders dropped 0.6% month-on-month in August 2.51pm BST Time for a recap Related: UK retailers demand Brexit deal after worst September on record German factory orders fell by 0.6% m-o-m in August. Foreign orders rose by 0.9% m-o-m, driven by incoming orders from both euro area (+1.5%) and non euro area (0.4%) countries. In contrast, domestic orders decreased by 2.6% m-o-m. pic.twitter.com/UdYpkvvRIHCan´t actually see Pizza Express actually vanishing. Too much discounting and too much debt are the problems. Both fixable. Brand is strong though and model workable. Eminently restructurable with a big hair cut. 2.36pm BST Wall Street has opened cautiously, as worries about a global slowdown continue to weigh on markets. 2.25pm BST The slowdown in consumer spending is bad news for restaurant groups, such as high street stalwart Pizza Express.Pizza Express sources (sauces?) very much playing down the suggestion that the chain is in trouble. Bondholders forming a group does suggest some anxiety though.By my reckoning, the proceeds of one pizza slice out of every six you buy goes direct to paying interest on debt.Gonna risk looking stupid here and say that I reckon Pizza Express will be fine (barring a major econ downturn). Yes it has big debts but that`s the private equity model. So did Wagamama when Restaurant Group paid £560m for it. Debt = risk but PizzEx`s doesn`t mature til 2021. 1.35pm BST Here´s my colleague Larry Elliott on today´s retail sales worries:Retailers have urged the government to secure a Brexit deal with the EU after their latest health check of high street and online spending showed the weakest growth since the survey was launched in the mid-1990s.The British Retail Conso ...