Australia NAB Business Confidence improved slightly form 0 to 1 in January. Despite this marginal improvement, Business Conditions dropped from 8 to 6, with notable decreases in trading conditions from 11 to 8, profitability conditions from 7 to 5, and employment conditions also falling from 7 to 5.
In terms of cost pressures, labour cost growth remained steady at 2.0% in quarterly equivalent terms, while purchase cost growth saw a slight increase to 1.8% from 1.7%. Product price growth experienced a pickup, moving to 1.2% in quarterly terms from 0.9%, reflecting a broader trend of easing price pressures. Specifically, retail price growth rose to 0.9% from 0.5%, and the growth rate for recreation & personal services prices increased to 1.2% from 0.9%.
NAB Chief Economist Alan Oster commented on the findings, stating, ” Capacity utilisation remains high, despite the slowing in growth over the second half of 2023, and price pressures are easing, with hopes they settle well below where they are now.”
