Australia Confianza Empresarial

Australia’s NAB business confidence index plunged to -3 in November 2024 from a near two-year top of 5 in the prior month, falling below its long-term average due to declines across most industries, except for construction. Meanwhile, business conditions sank to their lowest since late 2020 (2 vs 7 in October), with all sub-components now at or below average: sales (8 vs 13), profitability (5 vs -1), and employment (2 vs 3). Activity shrank across all industries, with retail and manufacturing seeing the worst conditions. Labor cost growth in quarterly terms was unchanged (at 1.4%) while purchase cost growth ticked up to 1.1%. Product price growth stayed at 0.6%, with retail price growth slowing (0.6% vs 1.1%). Forward orders fell further (-5 vs -3). Capex rose slightly (10 vs 8), amid stable capacity utilization at 82.4%. "The survey points to ongoing soft growth in Q4... it will likely take more time for price pressures to normalize fully," said NAB chief economist Alan Oster.