Australia: Business sentiment regains some lost ground at beginning of 2020
The business confidence index produced by National Australia Bank (NAB) rose to minus 0.8 points in January, from minus 2.5 points in December. That said, the index remained below the zero-point threshold, indicating that Australian businesses are mostly pessimistic regarding economic conditions going forward.
In terms of sectors, January’s increase came on the back of rising confidence in retail, wholesale, finance, and manufacturing. On the other hand, confidence in the construction, recreation and personal services and mining sectors weakened.
Meanwhile, business conditions weakened somewhat from December, as worse employment prospects and trading conditions more than offset an improvement in profitability.