The Westpac-Melbourne Institute Index of Consumer Sentiment fell to 100.2 in February to sit barely in positive territory(100 means that the number of optimists equals the number of pessimists). Sentiment is 7.5% lower than it was a yearago. The result is in stark contrast to business confidence, which rose for the first time in four months in January.Sentiment has trended down over the past three months. A weak jobs market has exerted downward pressure onconsumer confidence. And this has been compounded over the past month by a lift in inflation which has ruled out theprospect of near term rate cuts.
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Commonwealth Bank