ANZ Roy-Morgan consumer confidence fell for the second straight week

  • -1.6% w/w (week ended February 23) to 110.4
  • Down 5% in two weeks (likely a response to job loss announcements

ANZ says:

  • Confidence is now below long-run average and at a level seen 18 months ago
  • Still believe the lift in confidence seen for much of the past 18 months suggests consumer spending will improve in 2014
  • Forecasts household consumption to increase by 2.4% this year, strengthening to growth of around 3.2% in 2015

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No discernible impact on the AUD/USD – stable around 0.9037/40 area