Swedish retail sales rebound in August, consumption growth likely to be modest going forward

Swedish retail sales rebounded in the month of August and the data for earlier months were upwardly revised from terrible to bad.

On a sequential basis, retail sales were up 0.8 percent, consistent with projections. However, the outcome was better than anticipated as July figures were upwardly revised by about 1 percentage point.

On a year-on-year basis, retail sales rose 2 percent in August. This is a decent figure considering that the unusual warm weather probably continued to be a drag on sales.

According to the NIER’s business Tendency Survey, retailers hint some further rebound and consumer sentiment has rebounded. However, growth in household’s consumption is expected to be modest going forward, noted Nordea Bank in a research report.