UK economy looking robust

Reuters reports that retail sales were strong in March.

The British Retail Consortium/KPMG retail sales monitor said the value of like-for-like sales grew an annual 3.9 percent last month, accelerating from 3.3 percent in February and the highest since April 2006.

Total sales, which include new floorspace, grew 6.2 percent on a year ago, up from 5.6 percent in February and paced by shoppers' demand for food, clothing and home improvement goods.

House prices continue to rise.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said its house price balance rose to +25.5 in the three months to March from +24.8 in February, confounding analysts' forecasts for a reading of +20.

And the Conference Board's leading index for the UK points to continued economic growth.

The Conference Board announced today that the leading index for the U.K increased 0.8 percent, and the coincident index increased 0.2 percent in February... Based on revised data, this index increased 0.3 percent in January and increased 0.1 percent in December. During the six-month span through February, the leading index increased 1.8 percent, with six of the eight components advancing (diffusion index, six-month span equals 68.8 percent).