According to analysts at Westpac, the first Red Book of 2019 for Australian economy shows an unsettled start for consumers.
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“The usual holiday sentiment bump failed to materialise this year, with the Westpac-Melbourne Institute Consumer Sentiment Index, which is adjusted to remove this January feel-good factor, slipping back into pessimistic territory for the first time since late 2017.”
“The pessimism is only ‘slight’ – the January index read of 99.6 is arguably more neutral than downbeat – but the start to the new year is still clearly a weak one.”