France's household confidence indicator dropped to 82 points in May 2026, marking its lowest overall level since March 2023.
A month earlier, the reading was 84 points, according to data from the national statistics agency Insee published Wednesday. The indicator moved further away from the long-term average of 100 points.
Analysts expected 83 points for the month.
April's inflation data for Australia showed only modest signs that higher input costs were flowing through to the broader inflation basket, ANZ Research said in a note on Wednesday.Australia's consumer price index (CPI) rose 4.2% in the 12 months to April, down from a 4.6% increase in the year to March, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported. Trimmed mean inflation came in at 3.4% in the 12 months to April, up from 3.3% in the year to March.On a three-month annualized basis, trimmed mean inflation is only just above the top of the central bank's target band, at 3.1%. There were signs of second-order impacts materializing, but they were relatively contained to expenditure categories.The fact that there was little evidence of a rise in purchase price growth flowing through to the April CPI data suggests that it may be more challenging for businesses to pass on costs quickly.The major supermarkets lifted the price of foods such as milk in late April, which may lead to inflation accelerating in the food group in May.It continues to expect the Reserve Bank of Australia to keep rates on hold at 4.35%.
The European Union's new car registrations increased 5.1% year over year to 972,314 units in April, according to data from the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association published Wednesday.In the first four months of 2026, new car registrations in the EU totaled 3,794,280 units, reflecting a 4.2% annual increase.
Australia's total construction work done in seasonally adjusted terms rose 3.4% to AU$83.36 billion in the March quarter from AU$80.01 billion in the previous quarter, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported Wednesday.Total construction work climbed 6.3% year over year in the March quarter.Total building construction work in the March quarter rose 0.6% to AU$44.71 billion compared with the previous quarter. Total engineering construction work in the March quarter rose 6.9% from the December 2025 quarter to AU$38.65 billion.Residential building construction activity fell 0.6% quarter over quarter to AU$27.06 billion, while non-residential building construction activity rose 2.5% to AU$17.65 billion.The trend estimate for total construction work done rose 0.5% in the March quarter.