Earlier this year, the average five-year Treasury note paid 1.67 percentage points, compared with 2.02 percent today. Alpesh Paleja, chief economist at CBI, said: "although sales have grown in the past few months, the basic trading conditions for retailers remain difficult. We expect that the pressures on households to actually pay will continue for a while, so retailers still face challenges. " “We are a trade specialist so all retail enquiries and enquiries from smaller independent installers are handled by our customers, which means they are sharing directly in the success of our campaign.”