The October consumer sentiment index released on the 6th by Westpac and the Melbourne Institute came in at 80.4, down 4.7% from the previous month. It was the second straight sharp decline following a 5.2% drop the prior month, and the index is down nearly 13% from a year earlier. A reading below 100 indicates pessimism outweighs optimism. The survey was conducted around the Reserve Bank of Australia's fourth rate hike this year, which raised the policy rate to 4.60%, a 15-year high. According to Westpac's head of Australian macro forecasting, responses collected after the rate hike, which made up 40% of the total, showed a sentiment index of just 67.2, compared with 86.9 for the 60% collected before the hike. The impact of the rate increase was also clear in measures of household finances, which plunged 8.0% compared with a year earlier, while the expectations index fell 6.4% and the index gauging the right time to buy major household items dropped 7.1%.
RBA hiked rates to a 15-year high of 4.60%, pushing Australian 10Y bond yields up (prices down).
