Australia Westpac Consumer Sentiment dropped sharply by -4.9 to 98.8 in March, down from 103.8. That’s the lowest level since September 2017. Also, with sub-100 reading, pessimists outnumbered optimists again. The release of the national accounts update is seen as a piece of news that triggered the deterioration. Data collected before the March 6 release showed reading of 100.7. Those collected after showed combined reading of 92.7, down -8.
Westpac continues to expect a total of -50bps rate cut by RBA by the end of 2019. And they expect the hikes to happen in August and then November.
