Key points • Forward-looking activity indicators remain remarkably robust, including in Auckland. • Inflation pressures remain intense. {chart} Table 1 compares the full-month September result with the preliminary read, and also with the early-August results that precede the outbreak. {table} Overall, while current activity is being crimped by lockdown restrictions, medium-term indicators are broadly robust. However, the slippage in profit expectations and investment intentions in the face of relentless cost pressure highlights that business conditions are anything but easy at present. Cost and inflation pressures ... (full story)