FMCG Blog FMCG Views and News

Woo Ho – is the tide turning in Australia.  The lower interest rates and Rudd’s cash injection have definitely had an impact on consumer confidence. As reported in The Age Online today;

“The Westpac/Melbourne Institute consumer sentiment index, rose by 7.5 per cent in December to 92.0 index points, and this follows a 4.3 per cent rise in November.”

While 92.0 indicated more pessimists than optimists, the improvement is great news for retailers in the Christmas/New Year season.

Tim

Posted under News

ANZ released its’ monthly Job Survey data yesterday and it was very grim reading. The last two months have shown falls of 5.9% in October and 8.6% last month. This two month period is the biggest fall in the index since its inception over 30 years ago.

Warren Hogan, ANZ head of Australian economics, made this astute observation;

“The latest job advertisements data suggests the global financial crisis has had a substantial impact on the Australian economy in the December quarter”

The redundancies continue to roll in with ANZ playing its part yesterday, giving 2 weeks notice to middle managers, analysts and researchers not required on the merger of Institutional and Corporate Depts.

FMCG announcements have been few and far between at this stage, with the agency/advertising area taking the brunt of it at the moment.

All the best.

Tim

Posted under Jobs, News