Consumer confidence improves a little after RBA pause
Consumer confidence increased by 1.1pts, its third consecutive weekly increase, but is still very weak. Among the mainland states, confidence rose in Victoria, Queensland, SA and WA, while it fell in NSW.
‘Weekly inflation expectations’ dropped 0.6ppt to 5.1%. Its four-week moving average fell to 5.5% from 5.7%.
Three of the five subindices increased, led by ‘Time to buy a major household item’ which climbed 2.9pts.
‘Current financial conditions’ were unchanged with the subindex below 70 for a fifth consecutive week. ‘Future financial conditions’ gained 2.0pts after a 3.1pt rise the week before.
‘Current economic conditions’ were up 1.5pts, but ‘Future economic conditions’ declined 1.0pt after a 3.0pt rise the previous week.
"Consumer confidence rose 1.1pts after the RBA kept the cash rate on hold at its April meeting. Unsurprisingly, this was the most positive result following an RBA meeting since before rate hikes began in May last year, with the gain led by those paying off their mortgage (+3.9pts)," said ANZ Senior Economist Catherine Birch.
"This was also the first time confidence had increased for three consecutive weeks since November 2022, with a cumulative rise of 2.8pts since mid-March. But overall confidence is still very weak, stuck below 80pts for a sixth consecutive week. Household inflation expectations dropped 0.6ppt to 5.1%, the lowest since mid-February, with a range of data confirming Australia has passed peak annual inflation."