Retail is the likely winner as the Christmas season kicks off

Danske Research Team Danske Bank A/S

Danish card and MobilePay spending, up to and including 24 November, show spending at similar levels to last year, after a very strong October, where spending was boosted by the return of so-called holiday money. As we are now moving into the Christmas season, we expect the disparities between spending between sectors to grow.

Retail is looking strong, benefitting from both the holiday money pay-out and the fact that many other spending lines that usually get a boost as Christmas approaches, such as travel, going out and social activities, are very limited.

There seems to be no upper limit to how much Danes are willing to spend in electronic stores, where spending remains double the normal amount – and that is even before we have the data on Black Friday.

Spending in clothing stores also remains elevated, as does spending on personal care and home improvement.

Unfortunately there are still no signs of recovery in restaurant spending, which usually gets a lift from Christmas parties, and hotel and travel spending also remains very low.

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Author

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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