Confidence back above its long-run average

•ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence was up by 2.6% last week. The uptick has resulted in the index closing near its one month high.

•The sub-indices were higher, with the exception of current financial conditions which fell 1.5%. Future financial conditions rose a modest 0.4% after the fall of 3.3% last week.

•Current economic conditions jumped 8.1% compared to a fall of 0.1% previously. Future economic conditions were up by 1.3%.

•The ‘time to buy a household item’ showed some strength, gaining 5%. Four-week moving average inflation expectations were stable at 4%, though the weekly reading was down sharply.

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ANZ Senior Economist, David Plank, commented:

“Consumers head into the Budget with confidence above average and at the highest level for some weeks. Talk of additional tax cuts and spending may be supporting sentiment. News that job vacancies are continuing to lift may also have provided a boost. There is a lot of news this week that could impact how consumers perceive the outlook, not least the RBA statement and the Budget.”

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