The weekly Roy Morgan / ANZ Consumer Confidence index has been released, which has fallen to an 8-week low amid the spike in Melbourne COVID-19 infections:
Confidence fell a further 1% last week, taking it to an eight-week low. Although there was a marginal improvement in how people felt about their financial conditions, confidence in economic conditions continued to deteriorate. This was not surprising, with new COVID-19 case numbers continuing to escalate in Melbourne. While the return to lockdown has so far been localised to 12 postcodes, the confidence effect is more pervasive. The uncertainty also appears to be discouraging households from committing to large purchases, with ‘time to buy a major household item’ falling heavily for a second week.
With metropolitan Melbourne going into full lockdown from midnight tonight, I expect consumer confidence to dive in the weeks ahead.
The full text of this article is available to MacroBusiness subscribers
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness.
Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.
