National Australia Bank Business Survey for December ... strong results again

Business confidence, 11 ... to a 5 month high

  • prior was 7, revised up from 6
  • longer run average is 5

Business conditions,

  • prior was 13, revised up from 12
  • Profitability up a point to +15
  • Sales index also up a point to +18
  • Employment down 1 point to +6

NAB group chief economist Alan Oster noted on the jump in 'confidence':

  • "This has helped to narrow the perplexing gap between business conditions and confidence evident over the past couple of years, and is an encouraging signal for investment"

Retail sub sector still soft, reporting at -2 (the only sector to report negative result). Says Oster:

  • Final retail prices also weakened sharply in December
  • into negative territory
  • are running at a slower rate than labour costs and purchases costs
  • pointing to margin compression

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