Animal spirits lift again. Confidence surges toits highest level in 3½ years. Business conditions, however, still subdued – with employment poor. Signs of better conditions in finance/ business/ property and construction. Forward indicators – including orders, stocks and capacity utilisation – point to future improvement. But our wholesale leading indicator less certain. Firms manage to increase prices modestly but margins still under pressure. Forecasts unchanged except cash rate cut delayed to February.
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NAB