Consumer confidence dips on gloomy outlook

CONSUMER confidence fell at the weekend as a gloomy mood about the economy appeared to take hold, according to an ANZ survey.

The ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence index dropped 2.3 per cent from the previous week, with respondents’ perception of the economy, including the outlook for the next 12 months, tumbling 6.1 per cent, although sentiment about conditions during the next five years improved 3.8 per cent.

The pessimistic turn regarding the outlook for the next year cancels out the previous week’s 5.8 per cent increase.

The weekly measure of consumer mood, which is based on about 1000 face-to-face interviews, recorded a 4.3 per cent fall in how people felt about their financial condition compared with a year ago and a 1.9 per cent dip regarding their finances over the next year.

“Renewed trade war tensions and the related equity weakness seemed to have negatively impacted consumer sentiment, with the drop over the past week driven by big falls in perceptions of current financial and economic conditions,” ANZ economist David Plank said.

The “time to buy a major household item” metric fell 2.6 per cent after having bounced 3.5 per cent in the previous week.

Meanwhile, the number of new newspaper and internet job ads increased for a second month in a row in July, according to a tally by ANZ.

Australian job ads edged up 0.8 per cent for the month after jumping 4.9 per cent in June.