The NAB business survey has been released, which paints a bleak picture of economic activity.
Business confidence slips back into negative territory and conditions are steadily deteriorating.
![NAB business survey](https://api.macrobusiness.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/NAB-business-survey.png)
Source: Alex Joiner
The next chart on forward orders foreshadows a fairly bleak outlook for economic activity in the near term:
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![NAB forward orders](https://api.macrobusiness.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/NAB-forward-orders.png)
The next chart from Justin Fabo at Antipodean Macro also shows that NAB’s survey is pointing to slower employment growth:
![Employment growth](https://api.macrobusiness.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/NAB-employment-growth.png)
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Firm profitability has also collapsed, suggesting lower employment:
![Firm profitability](https://api.macrobusiness.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Firm-Profitability.png)
Based on this data, Q2 is shaping up even weaker than Q1, which delivered the slowest annual GDP growth since the early 1990s recession:
![Annual GDP growth](https://api.macrobusiness.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Annual-GDP-growth-2.png)
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