January 30, 2019
Consumer confidence: saw-tooth pattern continues
- ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence was up 0.7% last week, continuing its up-down-up pattern.
- Financial conditions were mixed, with current financial conditions gaining 2.2% and future financial conditions declining by 0.9%.
- The economic conditions subindices were positive. Current economic conditions gained 1.7% while future economic conditions jumped by 5.9%.
- This jump took future economic conditions back to where they were in mid-December.
- The ‘time to buy a household item’ index fell 3.9%, to its lowest level since October. Four-week moving average inflation expectations were stable at 4.2%.
ANZ’s Head of Australian Economics, David Plank, commented:
“Consumer confidence has been volatile in January, with no clear trend. We think the bounce over the past week was likely due to encouraging employment numbers on the domestic front and the end of the US government shutdown. Importantly, consumer sentiment remains well above the long-run average and provides some offset to the recent downbeat news on business conditions. Critical to continued good cheer for households will be the performance of the labour market.”