Swedish retail sales fall sequentially in December

Swedish retail sales fall sequentially in December. Sales volume dropped 1.1 percent. Retail sales in consumables rose 1.1 percent, whereas in durables it fell 2.7 percent.

Within fixed prices, total retail sales dropped 2.1 percent on a sequential basis. Consumables dropped 0.1 percent in the month, while durables such as goods sold in clothing stores, furniture stores, second-hand goods stores and mail-order houses fell 3.4 percent.

When measures in current prices, turnover in retail sales dropped 1 percent year-on-year. Retail sales in consumables rose 1.9 percent, whereas it dropped 3.1 percent in durables on a year-on-year basis.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, Swedish retail trade dropped 1.4 percent between November and December of 2018. In the October to December period, sales fell 0.4 percent compared with the previous three-month period.