The ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian consumer confidence index rises for the seventh consecutive week. The confidence index rose 2.2 percent. The financial conditions indices saw gains. The ‘current finances’ rose 8.8 percent, while ‘future economic conditions’ rose 0.2 percent.
On the contrary, economic conditions came in mixed. The ‘current economic conditions’ dropped 3.6 percent after six consecutive weekly gains, while ‘future economic conditions’ rose 1.5 percent.
‘Time to buy a major household item’ rose again, rising 3.6 percent. The four-week moving average for ‘inflation expectations’ remained stable at 3.4 percent. Although the weekly reading dropped to 3.3 percent.
“Confidence gained further last week despite the shocking news that almost 600,000 Australians lost employment in April. Massive fiscal stimulus and continued easing of pandemic induced restrictions are providing an important offset to all the COVID-19 related gloom. As a result, ‘future financial conditions’ is now only around 5 percent below the long run average, though overall sentiment is closer to 20 percent below average. With more good news about the easing of restrictions likely, it seems reasonable to expect further gains in sentiment. Consistent with this, ANZ-observed card-spending data shows household spending is holding up”, commented ANZ Head of Australian Economics, David Plank.
