Dunn and Bradstreet do a quite useful business expectations survey every month that I will add to our regular coverage. It gives a decent reading of current conditions versus expectations of the following quarter. Today’s release for April is another sobering indicator.
Current sales are going OK if fading:
Profits are travelling better, pretty obviously on the back of rate cuts:
But as yet there is no faith in the cycle and plans to employ are still falling:
Most disturbing, investment intentions are crashing:
The D&B survey, which began in 1988, covers businesses from the manufacturing; wholesale; retail; construction; transport; communications and utilities; finance, insurance and real estate; and services sectors. So its a proxy for non-mining capex. This is another indicator weighing against the RBA’s project of rebalancing business investment.
