NAB survey erodes

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The December NAB survey is out and shows little improvement from November’s rollover:

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The Survey again shows a patchwork economy with little-to-no momentum building. In December, conditions eased for the second successive month after October’s surprisingly strong result. As a result conditions are now a touch below the long run average.

Additionally, forward orders fell back significantly (broad based) suggesting soft demand conditions will continue in the near term. On the other hand, levels of capacity utilisation edged up a touch. The fall in conditions was driven by all three components (sales, profits and employment), with employment the weakest and now below long run averages – again pointing to sub-trend employment growth. By industry, the deterioration was particularly pronounced in construction and mining.

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About the author
David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.