• Consumer confidence fell 1.2pts last week. The four-week moving average was down 0.5pts.
• ‘Weekly inflation expectations’ were unchanged at 4.9%, while the four-week moving average fell to 5.0%.
• ‘Current financial conditions’ dropped 1.5pts, while ‘future financial conditions’ declined 2.1pts.
• ‘Short term economic confidence’ (about the economic outlook over the next 12 months) gained 1.3pts. ‘Medium term economic confidence’ (about the economic outlook over the next five years) was up slightly by 0.1pts.
• The ‘time to buy a major household item’ subindex plunged 4.0pts.
ANZ Senior Economist, Adelaide Timbrell said: “ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence decreased last week but was still above all results from mid-February to December 2023. Short term economic confidence rose to its highest level since April 2022, before the RBA hiking cycle began. Those paying off their homes had higher confidence in the week, presumably due to the RBA holding rates again in February, while outright homeowners (who often benefit from higher interest rates) had slightly lower confidence through the week.
“The RBA Board continued its tightening bias in its post meeting statement and Governor Bullock reiterated in the RBA press conference that the Board was not “ruling anything in or out”.”
