Household sentiment drops on virus, sharemarket falls

11 March 2020

 

After a lengthy divergence between measures of consumer sentiment and business confidence in Australia which began in 2014, confidence readings of the two sectors converged again around July 2018. Since then, both types of readings have deteriorated, with consumer confidence leading the way. Recent surveys paint a picture of a cautious consumer, indeed a somewhat pessimistic one. According to the latest Westpac-Melbourne Institute survey conducted in the first week of...

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