Australian Monthly Consumer Confidence -2.4% m/m (prior -1.8%)

April’s Westpac monthly measure of consumer sentiment in Australia comes in at 82.4

• prior 84.4

WPAC comment:

• below 100 for more than two years
• “Outside of the deep recession of the early 1990s, this is easily the second most protracted period of deep consumer pessimism since we began surveying in the mid-1970s”

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Earlier on the ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence index was released, this is a weekly survey:

Came in at 81.9

• vs. prior 82.8

Its been under 85 points for a record run of 62 weeks, which is even worse than in the 1990s recession.

The inflation expectations question in this survey saw this jump higher,

• +0.1% on the week to 5.3% (its highest in a year)
• higher for 3 weeks in a row

ANZ citing the rise in petrol prices.

This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at www.forexlive.com.