Sweden’s retail sales growth slows in October, exports growth remains unchanged

Sweden’s retail sales rose slightly in October. The data showed some signs that sales are adversely impacted by housing markets so far. Retail sales rose 0.1 percent sequentially, while it rose 2.6 percent year-on-year. The annual rate came in weaker than the consensus expectation. Meanwhile, the summer months’ data were downwardly revised.

The growth in recent months, along with consumer sentiment at decent levels, implies that the downturn in the housing market has not yet impacted households’ propensity to spend. According to a Nordea Bank research report, it might impact to a certain extent.

“We don’t expect any downturn in retail sales next year, but slower growth than in the previous years”, noted Nordea Bank.

Elsewhere, exports figures remained the same in October from September. However, exports rose 10 percent year-on-year. For the third quarter, figures were upwardly revised. Exports figure was revised up by 1.3 percentage points and imports by 0.6 percentage points. This suggests a 0.2 percentage point stronger contribution to GDP growth than previous data have implied. But this is balanced by the downward revision of retail sales, stated Nordea Bank.

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