Recent Economic and Monetary Trends

The Danish Economy 2010-12

TARGET2-Securities

Manufactured Exports and Wage Competitiveness

Kamilla Kristensen, Johanne Dinesen Riishøj and Jonas Sørensen, Economics

Since 1995, wage costs in manufacturing have risen more in Denmark than abroad. In the same period, Danish manufactured exports have lost market shares, and the loss has been greater than in a number of similar economies. There has also been a tendency that countries whose wage competitiveness has deteriorated the most have suffered the greatest loss of market shares for manufactured exports.

The Increase in the Price of Gold in Recent Years

Thomas Krabbe Jensen and Christian Stampe Sørensen, Financial Markets

The price of gold has more than doubled over the last five years. This article describes the market for gold and provides a number of explanations of the increase. The price of gold is strongly related to expectations of the future. Changes in expectations of inflation, central bank behaviour and economic uncertainty may be particularly important. Changes in structural supply and demand and the development in the dollar rate may also affect gold price trends. Most of these factors have supported a high price of gold.

Oil Market Developments

Jens Erik Boesen, Market Operations

In recent years, oil prices have seen dramatic fluctuations. Oil price surges were followed by a price collapse during the economic crisis. This article describes the development in the oil market in recent years and a number of drivers of the strong price fluctuations.

Regulatory Initiatives in the Financial Sector

Borka Babic and Anne-Sofie Reng Rasmussen, Financial Markets

The financial crisis has highlighted a number of weaknesses in the current financial regulation. Against that background, authorities and international organisations have launched proposals and initiatives to address the regulation issues. This article outlines adopted, proposed and planned amendments to legislation in the fields of capital adequacy, liquidity and financial reporting.

New Payment Instruments

Jesper Bakkegaard, Payment Systems

Consumers increasingly use new payment instruments in shops and on the Internet. These instruments include mobile payments and payments with "electronic money", as well as Internet bank payments for online purchases.

New Method for Estimation of Investment Income on the Balance of Payments

Jannick Damgaard, Mathies Lau Friis Laursen and Robert Wederkinck, Statistics

Danmarks Nationalbank has developed a new model, which will be used for estimation of direct investment income as from January 2010. In contrast to previous practice, the new model includes data on economic expectations. It is expected to produce better estimates of preliminary gross flows on the balance of payments.

Dankort Payments and Retail Sales

Maria Carlsen, Financial Markets, and Peter Ejler Storgaard, Economics

Since 2005, Danmarks Nationalbank has used Dankort payments as an indicator of retail sales. The existing model has been extended so as to provide an estimate of the seasonally adjusted volume index for retail sales, which is of great significance to the assessment of cyclical developments. The models set up are better at predicting retail sales than the original model.

Working Papers Issued

Press Releases

Tables and Graphs Section

Vol. XLIX, No. 1