Denmark spending monitor: Service spending improves, but retail remains elevated

Danish card and MobilePay data, is around 10 percent above 2019 level for this time of year. There is still some noise from holidays, prices and cash spending, but even taking this into account real spending is clearly up - both compared to normal, and from just a few weeks ago.
Spending in retailing has kept high despite the reopening of services. Compared to 2019 spending is up by almost 20%. Notably spending on apparel and shoes has gone up significantly in recent weeks, and is now up 30 and 20% respectively compared to normal. This signals that we are yet to see a sustained shift away from goods, despite the improvement in a number of services - notably travel spending.
Travel spending continues to improve. Spending on packaged holidays is now only down by a little more than 12% compared to normal - a remarkable improvement since early May, when we started to see a gradual easing of travel restrictions.
Spending in restaurants and bars improved in the beginning of June as well, and we have to go back to early September to find a day with higher spending in bars than last Saturday - though Denmark playing in the European Championship probably plays a significant part in that statistics. Restrictions on opening hours where eased further this week, which should give way to higher spending in bars and restaurants with the coming data releases.
Overall, we have continued to see spending improve compared to just a few weeks ago. Data is notoriously volatile this time of year, but there is reason to be optimistic.

Danske Research Team Danske Bank A/S

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Danske Research Team

Danske Bank A/S

Research is part of Danske Bank Markets and operate as Danske Bank's research department. The department monitors financial markets and economic trends of relevance to Danske Bank Markets and its clients.

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