Sweden’s Economic Tendency Indicator shows confidence remains strong in January

Sweden’s confidence continues to stay high. The Economic Tendency Indicator continues to indicate towards a buoyant mood amongst both companies and consumers. The indicator dropped to 112 in January from 113.7 in December, but it stays above the historical average. All of the business sector indicators, except for the retail trade are above the normal levels. Consumer confidence rebounded slightly in January; however, this is attributable to personal finances.

Companies in all sectors have witnessed a rise in the number of employee in recent months; however a high proportion of companies are still recording labor shortages. Plans for recruitment are as optimistic as before and hint at solid employment growth in the private sector.

Prices are expected to have risen overall in the last three months, and companies’ overall view of their profitability has rebounded since October. A higher proportion of companies now intend to increase their prices in the coming three months.

The sentiment indicator of the manufacturing industry dropped slightly after the huge rise in the previous month; however, it still indicates towards a very solid situation. Companies report decent growth in orders and production in recent months and are relatively satisfied with their order books. Production plans for the coming three months are also quite optimistic.

The sentiment indicator for the civil and building engineering industry rose above the 110 mark, indicating towards a more robust situation than normal. Companies are happy with their order books, and expectations for both orders and activity levels in the coming three months stay quite positive.

Meanwhile, retail trade’s confidence indicator dropped for the third consecutive month to just below the historical average. This low level is mainly because of more downbeat specialist retailers.