Interestingly, 3 members of the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee voted in favour of a rate rise, external. There are 8 members in total.

Governor Mark Carney, Ben Broadbent, Jon Cunliffe, Andrew Haldane and Gertjan Vlieghe voted to keep rates at 0.25%

Kristin Forbes, Ian McCafferty and Michael Saunders voted for a 0.25% rise.

Image source, AFP

Interest rates have been held at 0.25% today by the Bank of England.

No surprises really, although there had been some voices calling for a rise to try and address the high inflation figures.

More details to follow.

To put DFS's share price plunge into some perspective - today's 21% fall is the biggest single-day drop for the furniture retailer since it joined the stock market in 2015.

Back then, shares started trading at 255p. Today they are at 199p.

There's still some way to go to hit their all-time low from July last year - blamed at the time for the uncertainty caused in the immediate aftermath of the EU referendum results.

But it's also worth noting that DFS tends to feel economic shocks more than most, because analysts and investors see customers putting off big ticket purchases, like sofas, as an early indication of potential trouble to come.

The embarrassing meltdown of the IT system at British Airways will cost the company around £80m, according to Willie Walsh the chief executive of IAG, the owner of British Airways.

The collapse of its computer systems last month caused horrible delays and disruption for travellers.

That's being reported by Reuters. IAG is holding its AGM in Madrid today, so the news is probably coming from there.

On the border of Germany and Poland the end of roaming fees is being greeted with some excitement.

Image source, Getty Images

South Africa's government has said local mines must be 30% black-owned, up from 26% - although it said it had not decided whether firms should retain that structure permanently.

Mines Minister Mosebenzi Zwane said companies had 12 months to meet the new threshold.

Shares in Anglo American, a London-listed firm with big exposure to South Africa, have dived more than 6% on the news, suggesting the firm may struggle to meet the target.

Sterling has fallen after the ONS said UK retail sales slipped 1.2% between April and May.

It has dropped 0.44% against the dollar since the start of the day to $1.26950.

It's flat against the euro at 1.13680 euros.

Image source, Quiz

Quiz, the annoyingly-named clothing chain, has revealed plans to float on Aim, the junior stock market.

The deal could net chief executive and founder Tarak Ramzan a cool £100m, if the £200m value can be reached.

The Scottish based retailer, which has 73 stores in the UK, and 167 concessions in the likes of Debenhams and House of Fraser, is hoping to cash in on a market that has already made huge sums for Asos and Boohoo.

They’ve signed up JD Sports chief executive Peter Cowgill as chairman and are telling investors revenues jumped 21% in the last two years to £89.8m with underlying pretax profits of £10.3m.

And if you're wondering - that is a genuine press image from the company above.

Image source, Getty Images

Some good news from the ONS: adults are smoking less.

In a survey it found 15.8% of adults smoked in 2016, down from 17.2% in 2015.

Meanwhile, smoking among 18 to 24 year-olds fell at its steepest rate since 2010, by 6.5 percentage points.

It said 5.6% of all respondents reported using e-cigarettes, around 2.9 million people.

Image source, AFP

The UK's biggest retailers on the stock market are taking a battering today: first in reaction to the DFS profit warning, and now in response to the dreadful ONS stats.

On the FTSE 100 Next, Marks & Spencer, Kingfisher (B&Q's owner), and Tesco are all in the top 20 biggest fallers - with Next topping the inglorious list, down 4.3%.

FTSE 250 retailers are also faring equally badly.

Dunelm, AO, Card Factory, Ocado and Dixons Carphone are all in the top 20 biggest fallers, with other consumer-spending favourites The Restaurant Group and Dominos Pizza also suffering.

Furniture retailer Dunelm - particuarly feeling the pain from DFS's warning - is now down 6.2%.

"Clearly, the impact of the fall in the pound on prices is weighing heavily on spending volumes growth," writes Scott Bowman, UK economist at Capital Economics.

But he is optimistic in the longer term.

"The fact that growth in sales values has held up well in recent months suggests that uncertainty isn’t holding back spending. Accordingly, as the effect of the fall in the pound on inflation starts to fade, there should be scope for spending volumes growth to accelerate."

Keith Richardson, managing director retail sector at Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking, says that a year after the Brexit vote, falling real wages are now starting to hit the consumer through rising prices.

The ONS said, external there had been a steep increase in the average store price for all sectors between May 2016 and May 2017, with non-food store prices growing at a faster rate than other sectors.

Image source, ONS

Image source, ONS

A stark reminder that inflation is hitting retail in today's numbers.

The value of goods sold has soared by comparison to the volume - or amount - of products flying off our shelves.

Food stores in particular saw a steady rise, as the weakened pound against the dollar took hold, and years of price wars appear to have eased.

Image source, ONS

Delving into the numbers, the ONS says department stores and household goods stores were particularly hit. But, good news for shoe makers - it seems we're still buying trainers.

Ole Black, ONS senior statistician, said May's slowdown in retail sales was in large part caused by higher prices.

Average store prices (excluding fuel) increased by 2.8% on the year, the largest growth since March 2012.

Food stores saw the biggest increase in prices since November 2013 and non-food stores the biggest increase since October 2011.