Switzerland’s consumption increased slightly in October, driven by better retail trade prospects along with brighter consumer confidence, figures from the UBS bank showed Wednesday.
The consumption indicator rose to 1.60 in October from 1.56 in the previous month, which was revised down from 1.65.
The increase in October stems from a slight improvement in consumer confidence and expected business activity in the retail sector.
Despite consumers’ gloomy labor market expectations, this was outweighed slightly by the prospect of an economic upturn, the bank said.
At the same time, the index measuring business conditions in the retail trade remained well below the long-term average, according to calculations by the KOF Swiss Economic Institute at the ETH Zurich.
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