US President Donald Trump's protectionist trade policies are apparently weighing on Australian minds, with consumer confidence falling in the past week.
The weekly ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence index has dipped one per cent to 116.5 points, possibly dragged lower by concerns of a trade war after the US ended steel and aluminium tariffs exemptions for the EU, Canada and Mexico.
ANZ Head of Australian Economics David Plank cited President Trump's tariffs as he blamed the decline in confidence on increased pessimism around Australian economic conditions and households' current finances.
Soaring petrol prices and worries about falling house values continued to have an effect, with views towards current financial conditions down two per cent to 105 points - the lowest in eight weeks, Mr Plank said.
Sentiment around current economic conditions fell a sharp 4.2 per cent to 105.9 points last week, while views around future conditions fell for the third straight week, down 3.4 per cent to 108.6 points.
"Though confidence has deteriorated recently, views towards both financial and economic conditions remain above their long-term averages," Mr Plank said.
But views towards future finances bucked the trend, rising 3.3 per cent last week following a 4.1 per cent decline in the prior week.
Mr Plank said that could be the impact of the Fair Work Commission's announcement of a 3.5 per cent minimum wage hike, compared to a 3.3 per cent last year.
He said gross domestic product figures later this week are also likely to influence near-term confidence.
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