Australia quarterly NAB Business Confidence dropped from 5 to -2 in Q2. Current Business Confidence improved from 1 to 2. However, Business Confidence for the next 3 months dropped from 12 to 9. Business confidence for the next 12 months dropped from 23 to 20. Capex plans for the next 12 months also dropped from 24 to 21.
According to Alan Oster, NAB Group Chief Economist: “There are tentative signs that the trend decline in business conditions since mid-2108 has slowed, but conditions remain below average with only a small increase in Q3. Business confidence saw a sharp fall in Q3 more than reversing the surprising bounce in Q2. It appears that any post-election optimism has faded despite very low interest rates following the back to back interest rate cuts mid-year”.