Australian consumer confidence jumped by 1.8 per cent last week, as shoppers prepared for the country’s biggest ever Black Friday spend, ahead of a $64 billion Christmas.
The ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence sentiment index rose 1.8 per cent, to 83.1, slightly above the four-week average of 81.1, and the highest level since early October. There has been a cumulative gain of 5.6 per cent over the past three weeks.
Despite this jump, confidence is still way below the monthly average (since 1990) of 111.9, and pessimism remains rife.
Just 6 per cent of Australians expect ‘good times’ for the Australian economy over the next twelve months compared to 39 per cent that expect ‘bad times.’
Even more tellingly, only 13 per cent expect good times for the economy over the next five years.
This comes as October retail spend fell by 0.2 per cent, the first drop since the start of the year.
“The drop in October retail sales suggests weak confidence may finally be impacting household spending,” said ANZ Head of Australian Economics, David Plank.
“But changing seasonal patterns may explain some of the softness. Spending data from last week will provide an insight into whether consumers held back in October to spend big on Black Friday sales.”
