Women’s World Cup fuelled uptick in Australian household spending last month, CommBank data shows

Increase in nominal spending contrasts with other recent surveys showing consumer confidence was languishing at depressed levels

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Spending on the Fifa Women's World Cup and a jump in education, insurance and petrol outlays nudged national spending higher last month, according to CommBank data capturing the spending of about 7m households.

The household spending insights index picked up 0.7% to 137 in August. Compared with a year earlier, the index was up 2.3%, improving from the 1.9% annual rise in July.