Australia's NAB business confidence: mixed signals about the outlook

Australia's NAB business confidence came in at 5 in Q4 vs 6 in Q3. 

NAB Quarterly Business Survey - December Quarter 2016

The NAB Quarterly Business Survey is providing some mixed signals about the outlook. For the most part, leading indicators from the Survey were less encouraging in Q4. Firms responding to the Survey continue to indicate solid investment intentions, although there was a slight pullback in the quarter, consistent with another fall in capacity utilisation rates. Longer-term employment expectations were higher as well, although there were some signs of softer demand for labour in the quarter. Conditions in the mining industry are showing signs of stabilising as commodity prices rise, but retail conditions remain a concern, pushing further into negative territory. The Survey’s read on inflation remains very subdued and points to an absence of wage pressures.