Sweden's Economic Confidence Falls To 40-Month Low

(RTTNews) - Sweden's economic confidence weakened in October to the lowest level in more than three years, as all indicators showed negative confidence except the retail segment, survey results published by the National Institute of Economic Research showed on Thursday.

The economic tendency index dropped to 84.7 in October from 86.0 in the previous month.

Further, this was the lowest score since June 2020, when it was 76.2.

The morale for the service sector worsened the most in October, falling to 83.2 from 86.0.

The manufacturing confidence decreased to 99.5 from 100.4. The decrease was due to more firms reporting excessive stocks of finished goods.

Data showed that the confidence indicator for the building and civil engineering industry dropped 2.0 points to 93.5 as builders became more pessimistic about the market in a year's time.

Meanwhile, the confidence indicator for the retail trade improved strongly to 90.6 from 84.5, thanks to more positive signals from food retailers about sales over the past three months.

The consumer confidence indicator improved to 70.1 from 69.4. Despite this, the sentiment still remained weaker than normal.

A record-low proportion of consumers plan home improvements in the coming year, contrasting with an unusually high proportion during the pandemic, the survey said.