New Zealand: Consumer confidence hits highest reading since February in August
Consumer confidence came in at 92.2 in August, up from July’s 87.9. August’s result marked the strongest sentiment since February. Consumers grew more upbeat about both current and future conditions in August.
However, the index remained below the 100-threshold, indicating pessimism among consumers. This suggests fairly muted private spending in Q3, as anticipated by our panelists.
On the economy, ANZ analysts said:
“This recession has been very nasty, no question, but it has been atypical in that it is been very much driven by higher interest rates. There hasn’t been a king hit to incomes or confidence such as a global financial crisis or a natural disaster. As such, interest rate cuts could change the mood relatively quickly, though of course it will take quite some time to feed through to disposable incomes in a meaningful way due to the preponderance of fixed rate mortgages.”