Australian households have been steadily gaining confidence in recent months, as reported in Westpac and the Melbourne Institute's monthly consumer sentiment index.
While not as pivotal to the Reserve Bank's thinking around monetary policy, it serves as a forward indicator for spending and economic growth, given household consumption accounts for about half Australia's gross domestic product.
Despite a 3.1 per cent drop in September, falling interest rates and rising disposable incomes have been boosting sentiment and confidence could bounce back when the latest update is released on Tuesday.
Responses around family finances are the best they've been since January 2022, which shows households have been noticing the turnaround in their own budgets, according to NAB senior economist Taylor Nugent.
That could indicate further growth in consumer spending is on the way.
Household spending has recovered strongly in 2025, with the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Thursday reporting consumption firmed five per cent in the 12 months to August.
But consumer spending has not kept pace with growth in consumer sentiment, said ANZ economist Aaron Luk.
"And what that tells us is that there is actually definitely more room for consumption to pick up, just given off where sentiment is at the moment," he told AAP.
Along with consumer spending, the RBA has also revealed it is keeping a close eye on the jobs market.
Labour indicators show businesses are finding it less difficult to find workers than two or three years ago.
But the unemployment rate has settled at 4.2 per cent after rising steadily since mid-2022, which suggests the labour market has stabilised, said RBA governor Michele Bullock.
That assessment has also been reflected in the ANZ-Indeed job ads indicator, which will also be released on Tuesday.
When combined with other data like unemployment intentions and forward orders, it shows there is likely to be very little change in unemployment going forward, Mr Luk said.
"So we still expect the unemployment rate to hover around 4.3 per cent."
Such an outcome would be in line with the RBA's unemployment forecast and reassure the central bank's board that its rate cutting schedule is on track.
A hawkish Ms Bullock rattled traders' confidence that further monetary policy easing was on the way, after leaving interest rates on hold last week.
She will be grilled by senators about the decision on Friday as she fronts a second parliamentary hearing in less than three weeks.
Overseas, it's also a quiet week for data in the US, with even meagre trade, credit and inventories figures at risk of being delayed as a result of the ongoing government shutdown.
But sparks could fly across the Tasman, with the Reserve Bank of New Zealand potentially poised for a bumper 50-basis point cut on Wednesday, following abysmal GDP figures unveiled in September.
Expectations of an interest rate-cut are holding up among US investors, with a government shutdown entering its third day on Friday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 both eked out record closing highs in a volatile Wall Street session.
The former rose 238.56 points, or 0.51 per cent, to 46,758.28, the latter gained 0.44 points, or 0.01 per cent, to 6,715.79 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 63.54 points, or 0.28 per cent, to 22,780.51.
Australian share futures jumped 29 points, or 0.32 per cent, to 8,357.
The S&P/ASX200 rose 41.5 points, or 0.46 per cent, to 8,987.4, on Friday as the broader All Ordinaries gained 47.8 points, or 0.52 per cent, to 9,288.1.
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