Consumer confidence increased by 0.5 per cent last week driven by gains in Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia, which were substantially offset by a sharp decline in confidence in NSW.
‘Weekly inflation expectations’ declined 0.2ppt to 4.7 per cent, while its four-week moving average was unchanged at 4.8 per cent.
Four of the five confidence subindices registered gains. ‘Current financial conditions’ rose slightly by 0.2 per cent, while ‘future financial conditions’ softened 1.2 per cent.
‘Current economic conditions’ improved by 1.1 per cent and ‘future economic conditions’ increased a touch by 0.2 per cent.
With Christmas just around the corner, ‘time to buy a major household item’ gained 2.2 per cent, more than making up for the decline last week.
“Consumer confidence rose 0.5 per cent last week ahead of the Queensland border reopening to NSW and Victoria (from Monday).” ANZ Senior Economist, Adelaide Timbrell said.
“Consumer confidence in Queensland rose by 5.2 per cent. Confidence also rose in South Australia (8.8 per cent) and Western Australia (4.1 per cent), while it was virtually unchanged in Victoria (+0.1 per cent).”
“Meanwhile, a rise in new COVID cases in NSW on Saturday led to a decline in confidence of 5.5 per cent in the state, which substantially offset the overall index. The drop in inflation expectations to 4.7 per cent was consistent with a 4.5 per cent decrease in national petrol prices over the past two weeks.”
