Confidence among Australians crept higher in the past week, although there was a clear divide between those in a Covid-19 lockdown and those who are not.
The ANZ-Roy Morgan consumer confidence index rose 0.5% in the past week, which ANZ head of Australian economics David Plank felt partly reflected the surprise drop in the unemployment rate to 4.6%.
There were strong confidence gains in Western Australia, up 11.4%, while it rose 8% in South Australia. Brisbane was also up 1.7%.
However, locked down NSW fell by 1.9% and Victoria was off 2.9%.
“But even with this drop, sentiment in these two states remains well above the lows of last year,” Plank said.
“This supports our expectation that household spending will likely rebound sharply in lockdown areas when restrictions ease.”
However, other economists are concerned political bickering over when internal border…
