Australian December business confidence rises to -1, from -8 in November

<p>NAB business survey is conducted monthly</p><p>December business confidence -1, pick ups in mining and retail</p><ul><li>-8 in November</li></ul><p>Business conditions index 7, says NAB: “Conditions eased in December and are now firmly around their long-run average level".</p><ul><li>prior 9</li></ul><p>Points from the survey:</p><ul><li>measures of labour and production costs fell back after they rose in the November survey</li><li>labour cost growth 1.8% in quarterly equivalent terms (from 2.3% in November)</li><li>purchase cost growth to 1.6% (from 2.5%)</li><li>overall price growth to 0.9% (from 1.2%)</li><li>quarterly growth in retail prices dropped sharply to the lowest since late 2020, at 0.6% in December from 1.8% in November</li><li>business sales down 3 to a still solid +10</li><li>profitability unchanged at +6</li><li>employment +7, from +8 in November</li><li>capacity utilisation to 82.7%, from 83.6%</li></ul><p>Overall price growth eased to 0.9% (from 1.2%), with retail prices slowing to 0.6% (from 1.8%).</p><p>NAB says on retail prices:</p><ul><li>

"The sales periods around Black Friday and Christmas likely have played a role here but this is nonetheless an encouraging sign that inflation may have eased at the end of the quarter"</li></ul>

This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at www.forexlive.com.