The latest Commonwealth Bank Flash Composite PMI® signalled that the outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) led to a steep decline in business activity at Australian companies in March. The overall contraction was led by the service sector, which posted a much faster reduction than was seen at manufacturers. Meanwhile, confidence in the one-year outlook dropped sharply, but employment was reduced at a relatively muted pace.
Employment:
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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.
