Australia Westpac-MI consumer sentiment dropped -4.4% to 104.1 in August, down from July’s 108.8. It’s now at the lowest point in a year, but was well above the pandemic trough, and even above the levels over the twelve months prior to the pandemic.
Westpac said: “The virus situation locally is clearly troubling, but consumers appear reasonably confident that it will come back under control, and that once it does, the economy will see a return to robust growth.”
Westpac expects RBA to leave policy unchanged at next meeting on September 7. It added, “given its decision to sit pat in August despite a sharp deterioration to the near-term outlook, the hurdle for RBA action looks to be very high”. It also maintain the forecast that RBA would start raising the case rate in Q1 of 2023.
