However the fresh data comes as NAB Business Conditions survey showed a softer outlook from business.
Business conditions fell by 3 pts to +4 index points in February, driven by declines in profitability and trading.
NAB Group Chief Economist Alan Oster said that while monthly movements in conditions have been hard to interpret in the early part of the year, the latest business confidence survey was based on a larger sample and conducted well after the January period and suggests that “conditions have materially deteriorated further to below average levels in 2019”.
The survey, regarded as a bellwether for labour demand, showed that the employment index remained resilient but that capacity utilisation had weakened.
“The employment index suggests ongoing employment growth of around 19,000 per month. This is slightly lower than the strong growth rates observed in 2018 but should still be enough to hold onto recent gains in the unemployment rate.”
Nab’s capacity utilisation index however which measures how much firms are using their labour and capital has eased over the past three months and is now just below average.
Despite rising to relatively high levels over recent years the 1.7 percentage point decline since early 2018 has seen the measure fall to just below average.
“While we still see this as a support to the economy, the survey suggests there is a growing risk to this outlook,” Nab said.
With a rebound in equity markets from December’s slump, the last business survey showed a pick up and the market was waiting to see if this survey showed there was a sustained recovery.
JP Morgan’s Sally Auld said that the business confidence had previously been a “touchstone” for Reserve Bank of Australia officials, but they had now dropped reference to such confidence since moving to a neutral bias on interest rates in February.
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