With Brisbane, Perth and Darwin emerging from their snap lockdowns, consumer confidence rebounded 2.0 per cent despite the Sydney lockdown being extended for a third week.
All the subindices registered a gain. 'Current financial conditions' rose 0.4 per cent, while 'future financial conditions' improved 2.0 per cent.
'Current economic conditions' gained 1.7 per cent, while 'future economic conditions' increased by 3.7 per cent.
'Time to buy a major household item' rose 2.0 per cent. 'Weekly inflation expectations' increased by 0.3ppt to 4.1 per cent, pushing the four-week moving average up 0.1ppt to 4.1 per cent.
"Consumer confidence rose 2.0 per cent despite the announcement of a third week of lockdown in Sydney as daily COVID-19 cases jumped." ANZ Head of Australian Economics, David Plank said.
"The easing of criteria for the federal government's AUD500 dollar assistance payment may have helped, with Sydney itself recording a 3.7 per cent rise in confidence after the plunge the prior week."
"The emergence of Brisbane, Perth and Darwin from their lockdowns also added to the rebound. A comparison between Sydney and Melbourne (Figure 1) shows that even though there is a sharp decline in confidence in the particular city whenever a lockdown is imposed, sentiment tends to be similar in both cities and there was no great divergence even during Melbourne's prolonged lockdown in 2020."
