Confidence continued its forward march, gaining 0.9% last week, taking it back to where it was in mid-December. While financial and economic sub-indices were mixed, the ‘time to buy a household item’ strengthened solidly, according to the latest ANZ Roy Morgan data, up 4.7%, to its highest level since October.
ANZ head of Australian Economics, David Plank, said the gain in consumer confidence for the second straight week was encouraging, considering the weakness seen in the first reading of the current year however sentiment remained well below average.
“Some welcome rain during the week may have contributed to the overall rise in sentiment, along with some reasonable local data and the signing of phase one of the US-China trade deal. The attainment of a new record for the local share market could also have played a role. The domestic focus this week will be very much on the employment report and a soft result may dampen sentiment somewhat,” Plank said.
