Not that we especially needed reminding but according to Roy Morgan, business confidence fell significantly in May:
Business Confidence in Australia dropped 6.4pts in May 2012 to 105.8, down from 112.2 in April and is now at the lowest level since August 2011. These are the latest findings from the Roy Morgan Research Business Confidence Survey conducted among a sample of 2,787 businesses across Australia in May 2012.
The main reason for the drop in confidence in May was that businesses are now much less optimistic than they were even a month earlier about economic conditions in Australia over the next 12 months. The decline in May coincided with a significant drop of around 8% in the ASX over the month and major concerns about the deteriorating situation in Europe.
Roy Morgan Business Confidence Rating
Over the last year, businesses in the mining industry were the most confident but over recent months their confidence has declined and is now behind those in “finance and insurance”, “accommodation and food services”, “health care and social assistance” and “professional, scientific and technical services”. The least confident major industries are“construction” and “manufacturing”.
This pretty much rhymes with the NAB Survey earlier this week.
