Consumer confidence slumps

Headline consumer confidence suffered a large fall of 4.6 points (-4.1 per cent) and all subindices weakened.

'Current financial conditions' declined 5.8 points (-5.6 per cent), more than offsetting the previous week's gain, while 'future financial conditions' fell 4.3 points (-3.4 per cent).

'Current economic conditions' dropped 4.0 points (-3.9 per cent), while 'future economic conditions' softened for the fourth week in a row by 0.8 points (-0.7 per cent).

'Time to buy a major household item' fell 7.9 points (-6.6 per cent), its largest fall since August 2020. Both 'weekly inflation expectations' and its four week moving average remained steady at 3.7 per cent and 3.8 per cent respectively.