The ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence index fell by a massive 27.8% last week. This fall has bought the headline index to just above the all-time lows recorded in 1990. Confidence is 17% below the lowest point seen during the global financial crisis (Oct 2008).
All the sub-components of the survey plunged. ‘Current financial
conditions’ fell 23.9% while ‘future financial conditions’ dropped 25.8%.
The economic conditions subindices were also down sharply, with ‘current
economic conditions’ falling 37.1% and ‘future economic conditions’ declining by 19.1%.
‘Time to buy a major household item’ fell the most, dropping by 37.2%. The
four-week moving average for ‘inflation expectations’ was stable at 4.0%.
They do warn that they made a change in the survey methodology, away
from face-to-face to phone and online interviews. It is possible that this impacted the results, though the consistency of the responses suggests this is unlikely.
