Key indicator dropped about 20% after the Reserve Bank last month announced the highest interest rates since 2011 Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Australian households are the most persistently pessimistic they have been since the early-1990s recession, after a fourth rate rise this year. Confidence among Australian consumers has plunged about 20% since the Reserve Bank of Australia lifted interest rates to the highest levels since 2011, according to the Westpac–Melbourne Institute consumer sentiment index. Continue reading...