FEARS of a triple-dip recession will loom large for Bank of England policymakers tomorrow (January 10) after a gloomy start to the year for the economy.

Despite the continuing uncertainty, the Bank's nine-strong Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is expected to remain in "wait and see" mode this month and potentially some months to come.

Economists predict interest rates will be held at 0.5 per cent for the foreseeable future, while the Bank is not expected to consider more economy-boosting measures under its quantitative easing (QE) programme until the path for the economy becomes more certain.

RECORD SALES: Supermarket chain Sainsbury's says it rang up more than £100m in sales on Christmas Eve in a record-breaking festive trading week.

The chain reported like-for-like sales up 0.9 per cent, excluding fuel, in the 14 weeks to January 5 after its strongest ever performance in the week before Christmas, when it also notched up £16m in one hour on Sunday, December 23.

Sales growth slowed on the 1.9 per cent reported the previous quarter and against last year's 2.1% rise over the Christmas period.

DEFICIT NARROWS: The UK’s trade deficit narrowed today (January 9), with the gap for goods and services of £3.5bn in November was better than £3.7bn in October. However, economists said without a bigger improvement in December, net trade will act as a drag on GDP in the fourth quarter. Experts in the City have been on standby for a fresh contraction in GDP after disappointing activity figures from the services sector in December. David Kern, chief economist at the British Chambers of Commerce, said: "Although the deficit has fluctuated over the course of 2012, the average of £3bn per month is too large and shows that we are not yet seeing sufficient progress in rebalancing Britain's economy towards net exports.”

SALES UP: Christmas sales have surged by a fifth at designer fashion brand Ted Baker, despite the gloomy economic climate and a reluctance to use promotions and price reductions to lure in bargain-hunting customers.

Smaller gift items such as purses and handbags sold particularly well over the holiday period, while staple items such as formal suits, for which the company is well known, continued to perform well.

Total retail sales rose 20.9 per cent during the eight-week Christmas period to January 5, and the company also sold more online than in any previous year, with internet shopping climbing 50 per cent on last year.