Consumer confidence rises for ninth week

Consumer confidence has strengthened further, with all the sub-indices gaining compared to the previous reading. The nine-week run is the most extended run of consecutive gains since the index changed to a weekly format in 2008.

Confidence in economic conditions gained substantially, with ‘current economic conditions’ up 15.7 per cent and ‘future economic conditions’ up 7.5 per cent.

‘Current finances’ gained 0.6 per cent, while ‘future finances’ gained 0.2 per cent to sit just 2.1 per cent below the long-run average.

‘Time to buy a major household item’ rose 10.9 per cent, its fourth-straight gain.

The four-week moving average for ‘inflation expectations’ was stable at 3.3 per cent.

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"On the back of strong gains in the ‘economic conditions’ subindices, confidence strengthened further last week," ANZ Head of Australian Economics David Plank said.

"Nine weekly gains in a row is unprecedented. To be fair, though, so was the depth of the starting point. More good news about

control of the pandemic and the consequent relaxation of restrictions is key to the lift in sentiment."

"Expectations of residential housing stimulus and lower petrol prices may also be playing a role. Though lower petrol prices are also contributing to the record low in inflation expectations."

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