January 15, 2019
Consumer confidence: confidence rebounds
- ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence was up 1.4% last week.
- Current financial conditions were up 2.8%, rebounding after three consecutive falls. Future financial conditions registered the fifth consecutive increase, rising 2.0%.
- Economic conditions declined, with current and future economic conditions falling by 0.6% and 2.3% respectively.
- There was a marked improvement in the ‘time to buy a household item’ index, with it registering 3.9% growth. This took the index to its highest level since the first half of October and above the long-run average. Fourweek moving average inflation expectations were stable at 4.3%.
ANZ’s Head of Australian Economics, David Plank, commented:
“Consumer confidence was up 1.4% last week thanks to a good showing from the ‘financial conditions’ and ‘time to buy a household item’ indices. This increase reverses a good portion of the decline captured in the first survey of 2019 and consolidates consumer confidence at a level comfortably above the long-run average. The resilience shown by Australian households amidst weak global and domestic cues is encouraging. Robust job vacancies data may have played a role.”