Australia - Westpac Consumer Confidence for September
Down 5.6% on the month to 93.9
- Prior was +7.8%
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Bill Evans, chief economist at Westpac:
Says that after the strong result last month there was "always likely to be some correction this month"
Evans cites in particular:
- "Deluge of disturbing news around violent gyrations in both Australian and overseas equity markets;
- poor economic data from China;
- a disappointing report on Australia's growth rate
- Weakness in the Australian dollar"
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Evans on his outlook for the Reserve Bank of Australia:
- We expect the Board will maintain its steady rates policy for the remainder of this year and throughout 2016.
- The key to any decision to further cut rates, as expected by the financial markets, will be whether the Bank's current forecast that the unemployment rate can stabilise around current levels proves sustainable.
- Despite soft economic growth, jobs growth has been strong over the past year partly because of the strong contribution to jobs from the improving export services sectors.
- A sustained deterioration in the jobs market will not be apparent until next year complicating the market's expectations of a rate cut by year's end
(bolding mine)
