Norway: Retail sales fell sharply in February – Nordea Markets

Erik Johannes Bruce, analyst at Nordea Markets, notes that the retail sales of Norway fell by 1.3% m/m s.a.in February against their expectations of -1.7% while consensus was -0.3%.

Key Quotes

“The correction down in retail sales was no big surprise and actually the figure was somewhat stronger than we had expected. The sharp drop should partly been seen in connection with the rather sharp rise in prices on consumer goods in February (retail sales is in volume).”

“The late start of the yearly book sale is also to blame (books were down 30% in volume). There is every reason to expect a rebound next month. Remember also that retail sales was up 1,6% last month and is very volatile. We therefore will not do too much out of it and we believe that is the conclusion also in the central bank.”