Not for household items.
Consumer confidence weakened by 1.6% last week, according to Roy Morgan data, and followed a strong showing in the previous reading.
All the sub-indices were in the negative, except the ‘time to buy a major household item’ which jumped 4%, however inflation expectations, which can be volatile, fell to 3.8%. Current economic conditions took a significant dive too, dipping 5.5%, while ‘future economic conditions’ fell 2.6% after a healthy gain of 7.7% in the previous reading.
Inflation expectations have been trending lower since late last year and have been below 4%, three times in the last five readings, ANZ head of Australian economics, David Plank said. “This is unprecedented in the history of the ANZ-Roy Morgan survey and we think highlights the challenge facing the RBA.”