Consumer confidence increased by 0.4 per cent last week, its third consecutive weekly gain. Confidence improved in NSW and Victoria but moderated in Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia after gains in those states last week.
‘Weekly inflation expectations’ rose 0.3ppt to its recent high of 5.0 per cent. Its four-week moving average was up 0.1ppt to 4.9 per cent.
The confidence subindices registered mixed results. Personal financial confidence improved with ‘current financial conditions’ rising 4.2 per cent and ‘future financial conditions’ up 0.8 per cent.
‘Current economic conditions’ declined by 2.7 per cent, while ‘future economic conditions’ increased 1.9 per cent.
‘Time to buy a major household item’ dropped sharply by 4.7 per cent.
“Consumer confidence increased 0.4 per cent last week as sentiment improved sharply in NSW (+4.5 per cent) and Victoria (+1.1 per cent) despite the rising number of Omicron cases in both states.” ANZ Senior Economist, Adelaide Timbrell said.
“The much lower hospitalisation rate compared to the Delta wave probably helped. Confidence in Queensland dropped 0.5 per cent, Western Australia saw a drop of 3.7 per cent and confidence in South Australia dropped 3.4 per cent.”
“Though all these states have stronger confidence than two weeks ago. The outlook about personal financial conditions improved, mostly due to a sharp increase in ‘finances compared to a year ago’. Household inflation expectations rose to a recent high of 5.0 per cent.”
