Australia NAB Business Confidence jumped and turned positive to 5 in October, up from September’s -4. It’s also the highest reading since mid-2019. Business confidence recorded just slight improvement from 0 to 1. Looking at some details, trading conditions rose from 4 to 8. Profitability rose from 1 to 4. But employment remained negative, ticked higher from -6 to -5.
NAB said: “The survey continues to show that the economy has rebounded from the sharp fall in activity in H1 2020 and will likely continue to recover as the economy reopens. However, it will likely take some time for activity to fully recover, with capacity utilisation restored and the pipeline line of work replenished. The improvement in confidence is encouraging but remains fragile, and it will likely remain that way until a vaccine is available. In the interim, confidence will be an important factor for how quickly businesses expand employment and capex as demand normalises.”
