Sweden Economic Confidence Falls In May

(RTTNews) - Sweden's economic confidence dropped slightly in May after showing some resilience in the previous three months, survey results published by the National Institute of Economic Research showed on Thursday.

The economic tendency index fell to 94.0 in May from 94.9 in the previous month.

The latest figure continued to show weaker sentiment than normal in the Swedish economy.

The index measuring confidence in manufacturing declined by 2.1 points to 98.5 in May amid weaker order book balances.

The morale for the construction segment slid to 95.4 from 96.8, and that for retail trade plummeted by 9.6 points to 92.3.

Meanwhile, the only subsector showing an increase in confidence was in services, which edged up to 94.3 from 94.0.

The survey showed that the consumer confidence index increased further to a 27-month high of 91.3 in May from 88.8 in April. However, a reading below 100 indicates pessimism among households.