Consumer confidence rises slightly

Consumer confidence increased by 0.9 points last week to 86.8. Among the mainland states, confidence increased in New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia but declined in Victoria and South Australia.

‘Weekly inflation expectations’ dropped by 0.6 percentage points to 5.1 per cent. Its four-week moving average fell 0.2 percentage points to 5.3 per cent, its lowest since late September 2022.

Four of the five confidence subindices gained. ‘Current financial conditions’ rose 1.5 points, while ‘future financial conditions’ increased 0.6 points.

‘Current economic conditions’ decreased 1.0 point, while ‘future economic conditions’ were up 2.1 points. ‘Time to buy a major household item’ gained 1.4 point after declining  4.7 points over the past two weeks.

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"Consumer confidence rose by 0.9 points to 86.8 last week," ANZ Senior Economist Adelaide Timbrell said. "After a jump at the start of the year, confidence has remained relatively stable over January, within a band of 1.8 points."

"While confidence remains well below the neutral level of 100, its four-week average is at its highest level since June 2022."

"Household inflation expectations dropped 0.6 points despite the news last week annual inflation hit a 32-year high in the fourth quarter of 2022."

"This is a signal household inflation expectations remain somewhat anchored despite accelerating inflation through 2022."

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