Consumer confidence resumed its climb last week after pausing the week before with most sub- indices rising apart from ‘future economic conditions.’
‘Current finances’ were up 0.5%, its third straight gain, while ‘future finances’ gained 1.4%. However economic conditions were mixed with ‘current’ gaining 2.5% and ‘futures’ declining 2.6%.
Household buying intentions enjoyed a modest 1.3% rise, a slight improvement on the 5.6% decline it collected last week.
According to ANZ head of Australian Economics, David Plank, confidence in future financial conditions is now back to the early March level, which is a solid turnaround given the impact the pandemic lockdowns have had on employment and wages.
“The contrast we expect to see between the May labour market and retail sales data may confuse the picture somewhat, but the continued easing in the lockdowns seems likely to be a positive force for sentiment for now,” he said.