Sweden is weathering Covid comparatively well

The 11% peak-to-trough drop in Swedish household consumption between February and April puts paid to any notion that Sweden has escaped unscathed following its light-touch lockdown. Nonetheless, the decline in GDP this year now looks set to be much smaller than we initially feared, and possibly a touch smaller than the current 4.2% record fall, seen in 2009. Next week, policy announcements from the SNB and the Norges Bank are the main events of interest (Thursday), although both are all but certain to leave their policy settings unchanged so don’t expect any monetary fireworks.