Confidence Depressed But Consumers Feel Better About Future

The ANZ-Roy Morgan weekly measure of consumer confidence rose 2.7% last week after declining 10.4% over the previous six weeks. It remains at a depressed level not seen since the early 1990s recession (apart from the early Covid period) and, like with the Westpac measure, currently inconsistent with spending trends.

• Petrol prices rose a further 3c to 198.9 last week, according to the Australian Institute of Petroleum. So, it is somewhat surprising that ANZ consumer inflation expectations fell 0.3pp to 6.5%, but that is still historically high.
• Consumers generally felt better about the outlook with future financial conditions rising 4.9% and future economic conditions climbing 3%. While current economic conditions soared 8.5%, current financial conditions were down again.