Norwegian retail sales remains unchanged in August, trend points upwards

Norwegian retail sales surprised on the upside in August. The trend is quite strong. Retail sales remained the same in August after rising 0.8 percent in the prior month. Consensus expectations were for retail sales to have dropped 0.2 percent.

After the weakness recorded last year there is now a clear upward trend in retail sales, noted Nordea Bank in a research report. That is no surprise. Real wages are expanding at healthy pace and so is employment contributing to a current solid growth in spending power.

“Higher interest is in no way changing that picture. We view today’s figure as very much in line with Norges Bank’s picture”, added Nordea Bank.