Norway: Retail sales fell in May – Nordea Markets

Erik Johannes Bruce, analysts at Nordea Markets, notes that Norway’s retail sales fell 1.3% m/m s.a.in May after an increase by 1.8% in April against the consensus of -0.9%.

Key Quotes

“The drop in May retail sales is a correction after the very strong April figure and well in line with expectations. Despite the drop the trend so far this year points upwards after a weak second part of 2018. That is very much in line with both ours and Norges Bank’s view.”

“We view today’s figure as very much in line with Norges Bank’s picture. Yesterday’s April LFS unemployment figure however was if anything on the strong side. LFS unemployment dropped to 3.2%. Norges Banks average 2019 forecast for LFS unemployment is 3.5% and 2020 is 3.3%. But there is too much noise in LFS unemployment to take the monthly figures seriously. We will await tomorrow’s much more important June registered unemployment before we conclude whether the labour market seems to tighten faster than expected by Norges Bank.”