Sweden’s household consumption falls sequentially in December

Sweden’s household consumption dropped in December, whereas production in the business sector rose in the month. The data released today was within expectation given the already released figures; however, swings were greater than expected, stated Nordea Bank in a research report.

Household consumption fell more than projection on a sequential basis. It dropped 2.1 percent, as compared with Nordea’s forecast of a decline of 1.5 percent. In November, household consumption had grown 0.5 percent. On a year-on-year basis, household consumption grew just 0.7 percent as compared with November’s year-on-year rise of 3.3 percent and Nordea’s forecast of 1.5 percent. The slowdown was due to major calendar effects. The outcome indicates towards some downside risks to the forecast of household consumption at 2 percent year-on-year in the fourth quarter.

Meanwhile, production in the business sector grew slightly above expectations. It rose 0.9 percent sequentially in December, as compared with November’s rise of 0.5 percent. On a year-on-year basis, business sector production grew 3.4 percent as compared with 2.8 percent year-on-year growth seen in the prior month. Meanwhile, in the fourth quarter, production rose 0.8 percent quarter-on-quarter. Construction and service sector mainly drove the growth, whereas manufacturing production was sluggish, stated Nordea Bank.