French consumer confidence falls further in September

French consumers have become increasingly downbeat. The INSEE consumer survey released today showed that the headline measure of sentiment continued to keep a steady downtrend in September, dropping over 2 points to 94.2, the lowest level since April 2016, well below the long-run average and a whopping 10 points down from January’s decade high.

The survey detail implied that households are increasingly negative about the economic outlook and in spite of continued job creation and rising wage growth their expectations for their own living standards, with the respective indices below their long-run averages. Perceptions of accelerating inflation have risen to the top of the range of the past five years, while consumers’ readiness to make major purchases is well down on a year ago, noted Daiwa Capital Market Research.

However, fears regarding unemployment have eased slightly. French consumption growth has already decelerated considerably in the past few quarters, dropping 0.1 percent sequentially in the second quarter of 2018 to stand up just 0.8 percent year-on-year, which tallies with the continued downtrend in the personal approval ratings of President Macron, flag risks of a further softening in economic growth ahead.

At 16:00 GMT the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of Australian Dollar was slightly bullish at 58.8308, while the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of US Dollar was neutral at 43.2373. For more details on FxWirePro's Currency Strength Index, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex