Consumer confidence marches ahead

Consumer confidence lifted for the seventh straight week, rising 2.2 per cent. The financial conditions indices gained, with ‘current finances’ up 8.8 per cent and ‘future finances’ rose 0.2 per cent.

In contrast, economic conditions were mixed. ‘Current economic conditions’ fell 3.6 per cent after six straight weekly gains, while ‘future economic conditions’ gained 1.5 per cent.

‘Time to buy a major household item’ strengthened again, up 3.6 per cent. The four-week moving average for ‘inflation expectations’ was stable at 3.4 per cent, though the weekly reading slipped to 3.3 per cent.

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"Confidence gained further last week despite the shocking news that almost 600,000 Australians lost employment in April," ANZ Head of Australian Economics David Plank said.

"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 per cent below the long run average, though overall sentiment is closer to 20 per cent 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."

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