Consumer confidence remains weak
Consumer confidence increased 0.1 points last week after four straight weeks of declines. Among the mainland states, confidence rose in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland, while it fell in South Australia and Western Australia.
‘Weekly inflation expectations’ decreased by 0.5 percentage ploints to 5.4 per cent. Its four-week moving average rose 0.1 percentage points to 5.6 per cent.
Three of the five subindices increased. ‘Current financial conditions’ rose one point but remained below 70 for a third straight week. ‘Future financial conditions’ gained 1.2 points.
‘Current economic conditions’ fell 2.1 points. ‘Future economic conditions’ were down 2.6 points. ‘Time to buy a major household item’ rebounded 2.9 points.
"Consumer confidence was practically unchanged last week and remained below the 80 level for a fourth consecutive week," ANZ Senior Economist Adelaide Timbrell said.
"The index, in six of the past seven weeks, was among the 12 worst results since the COVID outbreak. Confidence among those paying off their mortgage rebounded 2.9 points after a 4.3 points fall the week before.
"Confidence among renters and outright homeowners declined 0.5 points and 1.8 points respectively after increases last week.
"Confidence in ‘current economic conditions’ and whether ‘it is a good time to buy a major household item’ have been below 70 for the last seven weeks. Confidence in ‘future finances’ rose a little as ‘inflation expectations’ eased."