National Australia Bank's Business Survey for September 2018
Business Conditions, 15
- prior 14, revised from 15
Business Confidence, 6
- prior 5, also revised , from 4
So, both are little changed. Conditions are still way above their long run average. the conditions measure tends to be more objective than the sentiment driven confidence measure.
I'll grab some of the sub measures, but for now, 'employment' had a decent jump, up 3 points on the month to 12
NAB highlights of the report (in brief):
- Profitability was unchanged
- trading conditions edged slightly lower
- What is the survey signalling for jobs growth? The employment index (based on historical patterns) is consistent with jobs growth of over 20k per month. This should lead to further declines in the unemployment rate over the remainder of 2018.
- Confidence (in trend terms) remains highest in mining with most other industries at around the average of national conditions
- Are leading indicators suggesting further improvement? The forward orders index decreased 3pts to +2, following a rebound last month, to be around average. Capacity utilisation edged lower but remains at a high level after trending up over recent years.
- Compared with history, surveyed price pressures remain weak
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I see little in this report to suggest its anything but 'steady as she goes' - for the economy and for the RBA.
AUD is barely changed.
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For background, check these out:
