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Australia’s December Trade Surplus Expands but Falls Short of Expectations 
Australia’s headline ANZ-Roy Morgan consumer confidence deteriorated 2.1 percent to 118.9 last week, its lowest value in seven weeks. The details were also negative with all sub-indices weakening.
Households’ views towards current financial conditions fell 1.9 percent last week, more than reversing the 1.5 percent bounce in the previous week. Similarly, households were also less optimistic about future financial conditions, which fell 1.4 percent last week.
Consumers’ assessment of current economic conditions weakened by 3.8 percent, more than unwinding the cumulative 2.8 percent rise of the previous two weeks. Views towards future conditions also declined 3.9 percent to 112.7. Both sub-indices are at their lowest points in seven weeks.
The ‘time to buy a household item’ sub-index was flat (-0.1 percent) holding on to its 2.4 percent gain last week. Four-week moving average inflation expectations remained steady at 4.3 percent.
"The strong labour market has been quite supportive of confidence in the year so far and we expect this to remain so, despite a slowdown in the pace of job growth," ANZ Research commented in its latest report.
