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Showing 51 - 60 of 406 results for %22Westpac-Melbourne Institute%22

Not happy enough

BENJAMIN ONG  |  THURSDAY, 14 SEP 2017
Australian consumers are happier in September than last month. The Westpac-Melbourne Institute (WBC-MI) index of consumer sentiment jumped by 2.5% to a reading of 97.9 this month from 95.5 in August with nearly all the survey's sub-indices recording ...

Wage freeze

BENJAMIN ONG  |  THURSDAY, 17 AUG 2017
... quarter, unchanged from the quarters ended September, December and March. This was also evident in the result of the latest Westpac-Melbourne Institute consumer sentiment survey - down to 95.5 in August from 96.6 in July. This is the ninth straight month ...

Wages separate businesses from consumers

BENJAMIN ONG  |  THURSDAY, 10 AUG 2017
Not happy Jan! This is the collective cry of Australian consumers according to the latest Westpac-Melbourne Institute consumer sentiment survey. Yet only a day before, the NAB business survey showed that business conditions in July were at their best ...

Business conditions return to pre-GFC levels

BENJAMIN ONG  |  WEDNESDAY, 12 JUL 2017
... debt-to-income ratio has risen to an all-time high of 189% -- and weak consumer confidence, underscored by the just-released Westpac-Melbourne Institute index of consumer sentiment. While consumer confidence improved to 96.6 in July from 96.2 in June ...

Confidence: the business/household divide

BENJAMIN ONG  |  WEDNESDAY, 14 JUN 2017
... difficult to overcome, keeping wages growth subdued and consumers cautious with their spending." Here, the lead from the Westpac-Melbourne Institute consumer sentiment survey is not encouraging. Australian consumer sentiment fell by 1.2 points to a reading ...

Confidence slip

BENJAMIN ONG  |  THURSDAY, 13 APR 2017
... should rise more following the out-of-cycle rate hikes by lenders. This is not lost on Australian consumers as the recent Westpac- Melbourne Institute consumer sentiment survey indicates and one that could lead to more spending restraint. Consumer sentiment ...

More fires than hires

BENJAMIN ONG  |  FRIDAY, 17 MAR 2017
... solid business activity in the near-term, and are higher than through much of H2 2016." (NAB) "The Westpac Melbourne Institute Index of Unemployment expectations fell by 3.1% in March pushing the Index back to around the levels in December." (WBC) Even ...

Westpac faces lending practices breach: ASIC

KARREN VERGARA  |  THURSDAY, 2 MAR 2017
The Australian Securities and Investment Commission is taking Westpac to the Federal Court for allegedly breaching home-loan responsible lending practices. Between December 2011 and March 2015, the regulator claims Westpac failed to properly assess ...

Boring but the trend is our friend

BENJAMIN ONG  |  FRIDAY, 17 FEB 2017
... indicating that workers are discouraged from looking for jobs. This is underscored in the February Westpac Melbourne Institute consumer sentiment survey that showed "unemployment expectations" increased by 3.1% this month - suggesting more consumers ...

Christmas not spent

BENJAMIN ONG  |  TUESDAY, 7 FEB 2017
... than market expectations for a 0.3% pick-up, but that's for those who didn't pay enough attention to the lead from the Westpac-Melbourne Institute consumer sentiment index - it fell from 101.3 in November to 97.3 in December and was recently updated ...