ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence rose 0.4% to 112.9 this week which, readers will see from the chart below, is the long term average. However, consumer confidence is fragile and easily moved, even by events far away. ANZ’s Warren Hogan said, “ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence is stable this week but still below the levels seen in early July just prior to the problems in Greece and China’s stock market rout. The recent bounce suggests the loss of confidence in July was attributable to these offshore events.” The survey pointed to a slightly unusual phenomenon whereby consumer expectations of economic conditions in the next 5 years hit record low several weeks back but their individual finances were at the highest levels in the history of the survey.
