Norway: Decent retail sales data – Nordea Markets

Erik Johannes Bruce, Research Analyst at Nordea Markets, notes that the Norway’s retail sales increased by 0.7%m/m in July.

Key Quotes

“We had expected +0.3% while consensus was 1.0%. Last month retail sales fell by 2.9%.”

“Today’s figure was better than we had expected. But it is still rather weak after last month’s sharp drop. It is only up 0.1% y/y.”

“We would not do too much of that. The very nice summer wheatear probably held back retail sales. We will however follow consumption figure looking ahead.”

“The sharp increase in electricity prices this year means less purchasing power. Still we do not see today’s figure as a reflection of that, but of the summer weather. Retail sales will probably rebound in August.”

“Norges Bank will probably mention the weak retail sales at the September meeting, but probably not do too much out of it.”