Australia: Business confidence sours in July and returns to pessimism
The business confidence index produced by National Australia Bank (NAB) fell from a revised zero-point to minus 14 points in July. Therefore, the index moved below the zero-point threshold that signals that Australian businesses are mostly pessimistic regarding economic conditions going forward. The survey was conducted prior to new lockdown measures being imposed in Victoria, as such confidence is likely to remain fragile going forward.
More positively, business conditions continued to improve in July, on the back of rising profitability and trading conditions; however, employment prospects remained negative. Furthermore, forward orders ticked up, but remained in contractionary territory.