Denmark: Business sentiment remains at over one-and-a-half-year low in January
According to a survey conducted by Statistics Denmark, business confidence among firms in the industrial sector was unchanged in January at December’s minus 5 points, remaining below the critical zero-point threshold that separates optimism from pessimism in the sector.
Continued pessimism in the industrial sector came primarily on the back of plunging new business inflows. Moreover, stocks of finished goods remained elevated, while firms’ perspective of production was stable from last month.
Turning to the other sectors of the economy, the construction sector remained entrenched in pessimistic territory, also due to deteriorating order books (January: -1 points; December: -2 points). The outlook for the service sector was slightly less optimistic in January on the back of a less positive assessment of the current business situation and current and future revenue (January: +9 points; December: +10 points), while confidence in the retail sector fell notably due to starkly less upbeat sentiment regarding expected revenue (January: +3 points; December: +10 points).