Consumer confidence dropped 1.3% over the weekend of 13–14 February, but remains near its long-run average. The assessment deteriorated on all sub indices, except ‘current financial conditions’.
‘Current financial conditions’ was up 0.2%, while ‘future financial conditions’ dropped 2.8%, its sharpest weekly decline in over seven months.
‘Time to buy a major household item’ softened 0.3%. The four-week moving average for inflation expectations was steady at 3.7%.
ANZ Head of Australian Economics, David Plank, commented:
The weakness in consumer confidence comes on the back of Victoria’s snap lockdown and associated border closures. This was particularly evident in Melbourne, where confidence declined 5.4%, while in the rest of Victoria it actually increased 7.6%. Admittedly, the data for states/cities is inherently more volatile, given the small sample size. Sentiment in Sydney held up (up 2.8%) even as it weakened in the rest of New South Wales (down 1.5%). While the Victorian lockdown will undoubtedly have a material impact on spending, ANZ observed data shows it will likely rebound quickly when the lockdown eases.
David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal.
He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.
