Australia Westpac-MI consumer sentiment index dropped from 104.3 to 102.2 in January. The -2% decline was much better than the -5.2% fall during the first month of the delta outbreak in New South Wales, the -6.1% drop in Victoria’s second wave in 2020, not to mention the epic -17.7% collapse in early 2020.
The ‘economic conditions, next 12 months’ sub-index dropped -9.6% from 104.9 to 94.8, a swing from “cautious optimism to cautious pessimism”. 55% of respondents, an outright majority, expected mortgage interest rates to rise over the next 12 months. Unemployment Expectations Index increased by 8.2% to 112.7, marking a significant deterioration.
RBA would make a decision on the bond purchases program at the February 1 meeting. Westpac expects the central bank to choose to “scale back rather than full wind down, in response to the sudden emergence of Omicron. But that would depend on the upcoming employment and inflation data.
