Aussie Consumer Confidence Remains Neutral in September

According to the ABS, consumer confidence is neutral and balanced in its positive and negative sentiments, given the current lockdowns facing several Australian states.

Despite the increase in vaccination rates and the lift in GDP, the consumer confidence rate is well below the weekly average of 108.9 but remains 8.9 points higher than the same period last year.

“Consumer confidence declined 1.8 percent last week despite rising vaccination rates and reasonably good economic news in the form of the 0.7 percent rise in Q2 GDP,” said David Plank, the ANZ Head of Australian Economics. Over ht year until June 2021, the Australian economy grew by 9.6 percent.

“Sentiment dropped in Sydney (-5.3 percent), Melbourne (-0.8 percent) and Brisbane (-2.9 percent), while Adelaide (+5.0 percent) and Perth (+2.3 percent) lifted. The most notable thing in this week’s release is the jump in inflation expectations to its highest level in almost three years,” said Plank.

“The weekly reading can be volatile so we need to be a bit cautious about overplaying the move, but if sustained it will cement the sharpest jump in inflation expectations since we moved to collecting the data on a weekly basis.”

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