Jan 30, 2019
February 5, 2019
Consumer confidence: Confidence gains for the second week in a row
- ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence has ended its saw-tooth pattern by moving higher for the second week in a row, gaining 1.4% last week. The gain has brought the index close to its highest level since early December.
- The financial conditions subindices were positive. The current financial conditions measure showed a marked improvement of 3.2%, to a level that is seldom exceeded, while future financial conditions gained 1.3%.
- The economic conditions subindices were also positive, with current and future economic conditions gaining 0.9% and 1.4% respectively.
- The ‘time to buy a household item’ index was the only subindex that was negative; it fell 0.3%, to its lowest level since October. Four-week moving average inflation expectations were down 0.1ppt to 4.1%.
ANZ’s Head of Australian Economics, David Plank, commented:
“Consumer confidence is showing signs of improvement despite a decidedly mixed domestic economic environment. The stronger AUD and a more supportive tone from the Fed might have been responsible for rise in confidence. A slight rebound in Chinese PMI may have also helped. A winning turn in the cricket may also have boosted sentiment. The mixed economic backdrop makes it difficult to believe an uptrend in confidence will be sustained, but the fact consumer sentiment is well above average is a pleasing contrast to some of the more downbeat news recently.”
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