Financial News: Australia Business Confidence Weakens For Third Straight M

Australia Business Confidence Weakens For Third Straight Month: NAB

10/13/2026 - 01:45:00 (RTTNews)

(RTTNews) - Australia's business sentiment deteriorated for the third straight month in September amid concerns about higher interest rates, global uncertainty and elevated fuel costs, monthly business survey results from the National Australia Bank showed Tuesday.

The business sentiment index fell to -13 from -9 in August. At the same time, the business conditions index was unchanged at 1 point in September despite the employment index falling to its lowest level in five years, NAB said.

The survey showed that small rebounds in trading conditions and profitability offset the fall in employment. The trading index rose one point and profitability gained 3 points, while the employment index slid 3 points.

Although capacity utilization eased 0.2 percentage points to 82.3 percent, it remained around one percentage point above its long-run average.

The confidence index was 22 points lower than a year ago and at a level rarely seen in the history of the survey outside of the global financial crisis and the Covid period, NAB Head of Australian Economics Gareth Spence said.

"That degree of pessimism matters because it can shape hiring, investment and spending decisions, and points to a risk that activity softens further through the final quarter of the year," Spence added.

NAB said the survey remains consistent with some modest further slowing in growth in the third quarter and highlights risks that labor demand will slow a little from here.

NAB observed that the combination of weak confidence, cost pressures, above average capacity utilization and softer profitability was unusual and indicates a further softening in activity in the fourth quarter of 2026.

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