Consumer confidence bounces back
Recent research has revealed that consumer confidence has rebounded sharply, offsetting its recent decline.
According to the ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence report, consumer confidence increased by a “sharp” 3.2 per cent in the week ending November 7.
The report said that the increase was underpinned by a strong rise in the economic outlook subindices: households’ view on economic conditions over the next 12 months jumped by 7.8 per cent while views towards economic conditions over the next five years increased by 5.2 per cent.
Further, households’ confidence towards their finances rose by 3.0 per cent compared to a year ago. Households’ views towards their current finances also edged 1.7 per cent higher.
ANZ head of Australian economics Felicity Emmett commented: “Despite the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the US presidential election and the subdued performance of global equity markets last week, consumer confidence has [this week] more than offset the decline over the previous couple of weeks.”
“Although we would caution against over-interpreting this pickup as weekly data have been particularly volatile of late, it appears that concerns over the global outlook have been largely offset by the ongoing solid performance of the domestic economy,” Ms Emmett added.
Ms Emmett noted that the four-week moving average of inflation expectations edged 0.2 percentage points lower to 3.9 per cent.
“The decline in inflation expectations – which likely mirrors the weakness in the Q3 CPI report released two weeks ago – is somewhat concerning,” she said.