UK RETAIL SALES JUMP IN DEC-BRC; Q4 ENG OUTPUT PICKS UP-EEF The British Retail Consortium said annual like-for-like retail sales in rose 3.4% in December from 2.0% in November, but the pick-up was limited to the last two weeks of the month. It also noted that the underlying three-month trend showed a modest rise to 2.4% from 2.2%. Meanwhile, the Engineering Employers' Federation reported in its latest quarterly trends survey that output picked up in Q4 from Q3 as overall demand improved. The seasonally adjusted total balance rose to 8% from 4%. It projects output growth in 2001 to be 3.5% and exports to growth by 7.7% (unchanged from last year).