Australia NAB business condition jumped 3 pts to 21 in February, hitting a record high. However, business confidence dropped 3 pts to 9.
Quote from the release:
- “The record level for the NAB Monthly Business Survey business conditions index indicates that business activity in Australia is robust. Moreover, the strength in conditions is broad based across industry groups.”
- “The fall in confidence may reflect the turbulence seen in international financial markets in early February, but confidence remains above average suggesting that the impact was relatively limited”.
- “Forward orders have been on a rising trend for several years now signalling an improved outlook for the non-mining economy.”
- “Capacity utilisation is trending higher which is a positive for both future investment and employment”
- “We expect by late 2018 the RBA will feel relaxed enough about the domestic fundamentals to cautiously start withdrawing the stimulatory policy stance it is currently running. However, it will depend heavily on the data flow and the risk is that the RBA will delay rate rises until early 2019”
