National Australia Bank Business Survey for March, the two headlines record their biggest falls ever.

Business conditions to -21 in March

  • 0 in February
  • long-run average is +6

Business confidence -66

  • prior-2 (revised from -4)
  • lowest in survey history

Employment sub index down 21 points to -20

  • trading dropped 23 points to -19
  • profitability dropped 22 points to -27

NAB comments:

  • Worryingly, but not surprisingly, business's outlook is the weakest ever
  • Business has essentially told us that trading conditions, profitability and employment all went backwards in a big way in the month
  • We expect a recession of unprecedented speed and magnitude for the Australian economy over the next three quarters.
  • will see a sharp increase in unemployment
  • While almost everyone expects a fairly rapid bound back in activity once the spread of the coronavirus is contained and social distancing rules are relaxed, the immediate worry for the business sector is the impact on cash flows
  • more businesses expect it to get worse before it gets better

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Background to this is here: