MacroBusiness Access Subscriber Only Content From yesterday but Westpac was late to get it out: • The Westpac-Melbourne Institute Index of Consumer Sentiment fell by 4.5% to 107 in January from 112.0 in December. A pull back in the Index was to be expected. Since the last survey in the second week of December we have seen domestic border closures; the emergence of Covid clusters in some states; and the sharp upswing in Covid cases overseas, notably the US and the UK. This result compares to the 15% fall that was registered over July and August last year as the nation was shocked by Victoria’s severe second wave and associated hard lockdown.