Bloomberg said that Swedish consumer confidence fell for a third month in October as companies cut jobs to cope with stalling demand from Europe.

In September the number of employed persons aged 15-74 years amounted to 4,680,000, representing an unemployment rate of 7.4 percent, an increase of 0.6 percentage points compared to the same period last year, according to Statistics Sweden.

The consumer confidence index fell to minus 2.9, the lowest since February, from 2 the previous month, the Stockholm-based National Institute of Economic Research said today.

Last month Sweden’s central bank cut its main lending rate for a third time since December.