Australian consumer sentiment up in March

20% stock market rises have to have some impact on the real world, and that is borne out in the latest Westpac-Melbourne Institute survey on consumer sentiment. The index shows a rise of 8.3% in the April survey compared to the March one:

Consumers’ hopes for the economy have surged, rising for the first time this year, helped by the sharemarket rally and expectations of more cash handouts.

The monthly Westpac-Melbourne Institute survey shows consumer sentiment rose 8.3% to 92.7 points in April from 85.6 points in March, the most since August, when it expanded 9.1%, according to data from Bloomberg.

Source: Bloomberg, in The Age

Plan for toxic assets boosts market further…

Some, including Paul Krugman, might be saying otherwise, but the markets are giving Obama’s a thumbs up. Nikkei – six week high. Hang Seng -five week high. Australia -six week high. FTSE up 2% as of writing on top of 6% for last week.  And the Dow is currently looking good:

U.S. stock futures rallied early Monday, as investors expressed optimism about the Obama administration’s plan to seek the help of private investors as it attempts to rid banks of possibly as much as $1 trillion in bad assets.

At 5:16 a.m. ET, Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures were sharply higher. 

Source: CNN Money

Well now let’s wait and see what this plan ends up being…

New jobs on the way!

Hard to believe perhaps, but its true. Woolworths and Aldi are planning to add 10,000 new jobs by the middle of 2009.

After days of bleak news on the jobs front, Australia’s largest retailer Woolworths yesterday revealed it planned to spend $1 billion on its stores and hire an additional 7000 workers this year while Aldi has separate plans to put on 2600 new employees.

Woolworths CEO Michael Luscombe:

“What we see says we should push ahead. I’m in no doubt this is a wonderful business for us going forward.”

Herald Sun Source

Don’t like shopping/working in SUPERmarkets… why not work in a HYPERmarket! Costco is coming to Australia and is bringing 250 new jobs to Melbourne… I’ve always been jealous of the American’s ability to buy maple syrup by the gallon.

Costco Australia managing director Patrick Noone said the store in Melbourne’s inner-city Docklands precinct would open five months ahead of its original schedule, but the timing was perfect to attract shoppers on tighter household budgets… Victorian Industry and Trade Minister Martin Pakula said the store opening and the 225 jobs it would create would provide a much needed boost to consumer sentiment.

The Australian Source

The syrupy options of Costco