Sweden's economic confidence saw a slight decline in May, following a period of relative stability over the past three months, according to survey results released on Thursday by the National Institute of Economic Research.
The economic tendency index dropped to 94.0 in May, down from 94.9 in April, indicating a persisting weaker sentiment within the Swedish economy. This index measures various economic indicators to assess overall confidence.
Specifically, the manufacturing confidence index decreased by 2.1 points to 98.5 in May, reflecting weaker order book balances. Confidence in the construction sector also fell, declining to 95.4 from 96.8. Retail trade confidence experienced a significant drop, plummeting by 9.6 points to 92.3.
Conversely, the services sector was the only subsector to show an improvement, with its confidence index rising slightly to 94.3 from 94.0.
Notably, the consumer confidence index rose further to a 27-month high of 91.3 in May, up from 88.8 in April. Despite this increase, a reading below 100 still indicates a general sense of pessimism among households.
