According to the closely watched NAB Monthly Business Survey, in the month of June, business confidence continues to slide as the gap between the strongest and weakest industries widened to near record levels.
The NAB survey suggests that business confidence declined by 6 points, and is not at the same level as it was when the survey was conducted immediately following the aftermath of flooding last summer.
The mining industry displayed the highest confidence levels, whilst the weakest confidence levels were displayed in the construction sector.
NAB says that the sovereign debt crisis in Europe, as well as indications that the US economy could be headed for yet another slowdown is weighing on confidence of Australian companies, which is a little silly really given that the country is now firmly hitched to the Asian bandwagon.
Economy wide business conditions improved marginally in June, rising from 0 to 2.
There are however divergent conditions in different industries, with finance and property both displaying strong signs, as is recreation and personal services, unsurprisingly retail is not feeling very good about itself after being hammered by the internet over the last year.
Alan Oster, chief economist for NAB says weakness in business confidence and conditions as well as subdued demand from households implies that the central bank is likely to pause raising interest rates over the course of the next few months.
Mr.
Read the full post