In Australia index of business conditions and index of business confidence slump in March

In Australia, in March, the index of business conditions from the National Bank of Australia headed south by 6 points hitting +14 points. However, it remains quite above its historical average. As a matter of fact, the index of business confidence inched down 2 points reaching +7 points. Currently, it’s staying above its historical mark of 6 points.

As some financial analysts point out being considerably above the average, business conditions keep indicating strong business activity in Australia, and in general they are equal to or even exceed their historical average dynamics in all sectors.

All terms of trade, profitability and, in particular, terms of employment decreased slightly in March. Nevertheless, based on the trend, almost nothing has changed, and all components remained above average.

Historically, the NAB Survey's profitability was mainly associated with changes in the Australian Bureau of Statistics indicator for revenue from non-investment companies. At the current level it points to further solid revenues of the companies. In addition to this, the employment index actually corresponds to a stable level of job surge of about 21 thousand per month."

Leading indicators in the poll softened this month, and capacity utilization decreased a bit, while forward orders declined.

While forward orders and capacity utilization declined this month, both indicators remain on the multi-year maximums on a trend basis, which is an upbeat sign for the Australian economy not related to mining.

The strongest conditions in the mining industry in trend conditions are equal to or even exceed their historically average level in all sectors.

While retail trade keeps diving on a trend basis it reached the highest value for nine months.

The final inflation of product prices is still muted, and retail prices are declining.