European Commercial Vehicle Sales Up; Swedish Retail Sales Fall

Arthi Gupta
28 Jun, 2011
New York City

European commercial vehicle sales improved and Swedish retail sales dropped in May. German consumer confidence set to strengthen in July. Italy''s producer prices rose and Swiss consumption indicator increased in May.

[R]2:00 PM Frankfurt – European commercial vehicle sales improved and Swedish retail sales dropped in May. German consumer confidence set to strengthen in July. Italy''s producer prices rose and Swiss consumption indicator increased in May.[/R]

European Commercial Vehicle Sales Up

Commercial vehicle sales in Europe climbed 25.1% in May from the prior year, the European Automobile Manufacturers'' Association said today. In Spain, sales dipped 13.3% but grew 17.2% in the UK and 32.2% in France and 38.4% in Germany.

New van registrations totaled 146,350 units, or 21.5% more than in May 2010. Heavy trucks sales surged 63.1% and new buses and coaches sales gained 5.3%.

German Consumer Confidence Set to Improve

German consumer sentiment is set to strengthen in July, survey results from the market research group GfK showed today.

The forward-looking consumer sentiment index rose unexpectedly to 5.7 points for July from a revised value of 5.6 points in June.

The economic expectations index gained 4.2 points to 50.3 points in June from 46.1 in May. Income expectations surged 18.7 points to 44.6 in June from 25.9 in May and the indicator for the propensity to buy also improved in June by 3.6 points to 35.1 points from 31.5 in May.

Separately, Germany''s import price index increased 8.1% annually in May compared to the 9.4% growth recorded in April, data released by the statistics office showed.

On a monthly basis, import prices decreased 0.6% in May, reversing the 0.3% rise in April.

Annually, the export price index climbed 3.8% in May, slower than the 4.2% rise in April. On a monthly basis, export prices edged up 0.1% in May.

Swedish Retail Sales Drop

Sweden''s retail sales volume decreased a working day adjusted 1.1% annually in May, reversing the 5.6% increase recorded in April, data released by Statistics Sweden showed on Tuesday.

Retail sales of consumables dropped 0.8% annually and sales of durables fell 1.3% in May.

On a monthly basis, retail sales dropped a seasonally adjusted 2.3% in May, after rising 1.9% in April.

Finland Industrial Production Increases

Finnish industrial output increased by working-day adjusted 6.9% annually in April. That compares to the initial 4.9% growth estimate.

Seasonally adjusted output rose 1.6% on a monthly basis in April after climbing 0.3% in March.

Italian Confidence Dips, Producer Prices Up

The confidence index for the Italian manufacturing industry dropped to 100.5 in June from 101.1 in May, the statistics office Istat said. Production expectations remained unchanged.

Separately, producer prices in Italy rose 4.5% annually in May, the statistics office Istat said on Tuesday. On a monthly basis, however, the producer price index fell 0.1% in May.

The price index for domestic market increased 4.8% annually and for non-domestic market climbed 3.7% in May. Prices for goods sold in the domestic market declined 0.2% on a monthly basis but increased 0.2% in producer costs for goods sold in export markets in May.

Swiss Consumption Indicator Rises

Switzerland''s consumption indicator rose 0.34 points to 1.91 in May, driven by an increase in new car registrations, the UBS bank said on Tuesday. This follows a 0.1 point decline in April.

New car registrations rose 20.2% in May compared to the same month last year.