Consumer confidence hit by holiday blues

Mon, 20 Dec 2021

Consumer confidence dipped into negative territory as New Zealanders fret about rising interest rates and the impact of covid-19 and its variants.The latest Westpac McDermott Miller consumer confidence index fell 3.6 points to 99.1. Anything below 100 indicates pessimists outnumber optimists about the economic environment.The last time the measure dropped below 100 was in the June and September quarters last year, in the shadow of the first round of lockdowns. But other than that, it's the lowest in about a decade. “Many households ha...

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