WEEKLY UPDATE - Stocks in Stockholm dived last week as fear of a US double-dip increased.

The OMX Stockholm 30 index closed up 1.27 percent Friday after a better-than-expected US growth forecast and a cautious economic outlook by the central bank chief Ben Bernanke.

But compared to a week ago the index was down 2.07 percent. More and more gloomy US statistics is fueling concerns the world's largest economy could slip back into recession. The odds of a double-dip have risen as new data point to a worsening housing slump and the manufacturing sector slowing markedly amid high unemployment and weak consumer spending.

Figures presented by the Swedish Trade Council and Statistics Sweden Thursday said export managers outlook contracted slightly last quarter - but a clear majority of the managers forecast that trade will continue to increase, especially in Asia.

Shares in Volvo Group, the world's second-biggest maker of heavy vehicles, rose 1.6 percent Wednesday after it said that total deliveries from its truck operations in July increase 62 percent compared with the year-earlier period.

Also Scania, Sweden’s second biggest truckmaker, rose Wednesday after saying it’s recruiting 500 new employees at its European production units to deal with the increased production rate planned for the fourth quarter of 2010.

Swedbank, the country’s fourth biggest bank, rose 2.9 percent Monday after activist fund Cevian announced it now controls 4.64 percent of the bank’s shares, making it the bank’s third biggest owner.
"We believe in a significant value potential of the company", Christer Gardell, head of Cevian, told business daily Dagens Industri. "Swedbank has been through a tough period in the Baltic countries, but the Swedish operations have performed well throughout the crisis. We believe that there is long-term high earnings in the company that is not reflected in current prices".

Oriflame dived 3.6 percent Monday after Iranian authorities arrested five employees of the direct-sales cosmetics firm and shut its Tehran office amid reported Iranian allegations of a massive pyramid scheme. A permanent closure in Iran may lead to extraordinary costs of 10 million euros ($12.7 million) this year, Oriflame said. The company also sees an operating margin at about 12 percent for 2010, compared with a prior forecast of more than 12 percent.

Health care company Getinge, the world’s largest maker of surgical workstations, was down 1.1 percent Monday after it received a warning letter from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) concerning its production unit in Wayne.

Since the turn of the year the OMX Stockholm 30 index is up 7.06 percent.

This article has been published at The Swedish Wire and Nasdaq OMX Nordic.