Australians are Most Confident in 16 Months

Australians are the most confident they’ve been since January 2014 after the central bank cut interest rates and the government announced a A$10 billion ($7.9 billion) boost for families and small businesses.

The Westpac-Melbourne Institute consumer sentiment index rose 6.4 percent in May from April and was above 100 — the point at which optimists outnumber pessimists — for the first time since February. The increase is the first strong result in the month of May since 2007, Westpac Chief Economist Bill Evans said in an e-mailed statement.

The rise mirrors a boost in poll ratings for Prime Minister Tony Abbott after his Liberal-National coalition government announced tax cuts and instant writeoffs for small firms in his budget May 12. The upbeat outlook is a turnaround after last year’s austere budget saw confidence plunge and helped trigger a challenge to Abbott’s leadership. It also supports the Reserve Bank of Australia’s view that rate cuts are boosting household spending.

Bloomberg

Content is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc. or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. If you would like to reproduce or redistribute any of the content found on MarketPulse, an award winning forex, commodities and global indices analysis and news site service produced by OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc., please access the RSS feed or contact us at info@marketpulse.com. Visit https://www.marketpulse.com/ to find out more about the beat of the global markets. © 2023 OANDA Business Information & Services Inc.