Australian consumer sentiment: -1.7% MoM vs the prior +3.6%

• Australian consumer sentiment arrives below prior  -1.7% MoM vs the prior +3.6%.
• AUD/USD  takes a knock on the data.

Australian consumer sentiment has been volatile this year in the Westpac-Melbourne Institute survey, including -4.1% in July then +3.6% in August.

Today’s result falls in at  -1.7% MoM vs the prior +3.6% – (Bearish for AUD).

Worrying headlines on trade wars are seeing their way through it would seem despite  today’s survey being  conducted 2-7 September i.e. “including the RBA’s steady hand and Q2 GDP report, which matched consensus but was spun mostly negatively in the media, given the weak YoY  pace,” analysts at Westpac explained.  

About Consumer Confidence

The Westpac Consumer Confidence released by the  Faculty of Economics and Commerce Melbourne Institute  captures the level of sentiment that individuals have in economic activity reflecting respondents’ evaluations of their family finances over the past and coming year, expectations about the one-year and five-year economic conditions and views about current buying conditions for major household items. Generally speaking, a high reading is seen as positive (or bullish) for the AUD, whereas a low reading is seen as negative (or bearish).