Denmark: Consumer confidence stable at joint eight-month high in March
The consumer confidence index released by Statistics Denmark was stable at February’s 8.5 points in March, a joint eight-month high. It thus stayed comfortably above the crucial zero-point mark that separates optimism from pessimism among consumers, where it has been since January 2017.
Overall, consumers were more positive than in the previous month regarding their past and present situations, but conversely downgraded their outlook regarding the future. They were notably more optimistic regarding their financial situations in the last year as well as their present savings, and they also thought the country performed better over the previous 12 months, compared to last month’s survey. Consumers were also less negative about making immediate, big-ticket purchases.
On the other hand, their assessment of the unemployment outlook, their personal financial situations and that of the country as a whole over the next 12 months all deteriorated. Consumers also became pessimistic regarding their ability to make major purchases in the coming year, reflecting lower confidence in their savings ability over the year. The only positive note regarding the outlook in March was that consumers had a markedly more optimistic views of price developments over the next 12 months.