Denmark’s retail sales showed a significant drop in July, with analysts citing the worst rainfall on record as the culprit.
(Bloomberg) — Denmark’s retail sales showed a significant drop in July, with analysts citing the worst rainfall on record as the culprit.
Sales fell a seasonally-adjusted 4.4% from the month before, the biggest decline since the spring of 2021, when Covid-19 lockdowns affected spending patterns, Statistics Denmark said on Monday. Denmark had more than twice as much rain as normal in July, breaking a 92-year record for that month, according to the Danish Meteorological Institute.
“This meant that many Danes went abroad for a holiday but it can also have prompted others to reduce consumption,” Soren Kristensen, chief economist at Sydbank A/S, said in a note. “A decline of this magnitude is outright concerning,” he added, noting that the release coincided with other recent negative data.
Last week, the consumer confidence index fell for the first time in 10 months, with Danes taking a bleaker view on households’ and the overall economy one year from now. Private consumption had been strong in the first half of the year as the inflation rate fell rapidly from its October 2022 peak and wage increases boosted disposable incomes.
In neighboring Norway, July retail sales fell the most this year, by 0.8% on month, with a slide in grocery trade leading broad-based declines, the statistics office in Oslo said. The three-month period for May to July still showed a gain of 0.8%, it added.
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