NAB Business Confidence increased from +1 to +2, but this only masks the fact that it was a move of just 0.1 which saw the figure rounded up this month. NAB Chief Economist Alan Oster said in a note accompanying the release: "With soft business confidence and weak forward orders there is doubt that the strength in the official estimates can be maintained." Oster says and he still expects, “
two rate cuts in 2015 but timing very dependent on data flow and could start a touch later.”
"The official labour market also showed surprising resilience in December, but could reflect a statistical catch up (relative to other labour market partials). Certainly the employment series in the Survey has weakened and is now below average levels." As for employment, which recently has been the one bright spot in the economy, the NAB’s employment sub-index fell to -1 raising from 0 recently.
Data did not have any major impact on Aussie which is currently being traded few points above 0.7920 level. Later today, in the US session,
Durable Goods Orders, CB Consumer Confidence and New Home Sales figures are scheduled for a release.