Despite fall, Shanghai consumer, investor confidence stays positive

Shanghai's consumer and investor confidence both fell but stayed generally positive in the second quarter of this year, according to a latest survey.

The Shanghai University of Finance and Economics' quarterly Consumer Confidence in Shanghai Index tumbled 12.7 points from the first quarter of 2022 to 104.4 points, and was 17.4 points lower than a year earlier.

The university's Index of Investor Confidence was 108 points, edging down 1.46 points from the previous quarter and 17.54 points lower from the same period last year.

For both indexes, a reading above 100 signifies optimism. Below 100 indicates pessimism.

The slump in consumer confidence can be mainly attributed to the two-month lockdown in Shanghai over the recent COVID-19 resurgence, which heightened residents' concerns over the economy, employment and income trends, said Xu Guoxiang, director of the university's Applied Statistics Research Center.

Meanwhile, the grim international economic situation, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and the intensified international geopolitical competition all led to huge uncertainties and challenges in the global economy, Xu added.

The sub-index for consumers' evaluation of Shanghai's economy plunged 23.2 points from the first quarter to 124.09 points, a slump of 25.6 points from a year earlier.

But boosted by the orderly resumption of production and work, consumers were upbeat on future economic development (whose sub-index scored 124.1 points) than their evaluation of the current economic situation, Xu noted, expecting consumer confidence to rebound with economic recovery.

Their evaluation index of income, however, dived sharply to a record low of 91 points, the second time it has fallen below 100.

The sub-index of purchase intentions was the one that changed the least, shedding 2 points from the previous quarter to 89.7 points in April-June.

Among them, the intention to buy cars and durables saw quarter-on-quarter gains of 5.2 points and 13.8 points, respectively, to 90 points and 111.9 points, as the pandemic, to some extent, led to higher demand for such products.

The index of home-buying intentions, however, plummeted 24.8 points on the quarter while falling 17.8 points from a year earlier.