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Australia’s ANZ business conditions leaped to a new record level in April, rebounding strongly after March’s soft outcome. The mining sector posted the sharpest improvement in April and is now reporting the best overall conditions.
Business conditions rose strongly in April, reaching the highest level since the monthly survey commenced 20 years ago. Importantly, March’s weak result is now only a blip in the middle of a very strong run of business reports.
The details of the report were positive. Business profitability, employment conditions, and capacity utilization all rebounded to near-record levels. These tend to be good leading indicators of labor market developments, and we continue to look for further solid employment growth.
On the back of another strong result in April, conditions in the mining sector are now the highest out of all industries in three-month average terms. This likely reflects that the decline in mining investment and associated job losses is nearly over, as well as commodity prices now being well above their 2016 lows.
"However, we do not expect this to translate into another significant round of mining investment any time soon," ANZ Research commented in its latest report.
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