Westpac – Melbourne
Institute Index of Consumer Sentiment fell 1.7% to its lowest level since last
year’s federal election.
The loss of 22,600
jobs in the December employment figures worked against the usual boost in
confidence during the festive season.
Westpacs Chief Economist, Bill Evans, said “Typically the January survey shows a strong seasonal upward bias because of the ‘holiday effect’ and seasonal adjustment is important to gauge the underlying strength of the index - for example, over the last 5 years on a seasonally unadjusted basis the index has risen by an average of 5 per cent in January,” Mr Evans observed in the report. “The unadjusted lift in January 2014 was a comparatively modest 2.5 per cent, emphasising the softish nature of the result.”