{"id":429496,"date":"2026-04-14T08:40:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T01:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/market-news\/2026\/04\/australia-business-confidence-plunges-to-29-as-iran-war-shock-hits-outlook\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T08:40:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T01:40:08","slug":"australia-business-confidence-plunges-to-29-as-iran-war-shock-hits-outlook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/market-news\/australia-business-confidence-plunges-to-29-as-iran-war-shock-hits-outlook-429496\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia business confidence plunges to -29 as Iran war shock hits outlook"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Australian business confidence collapses as energy shock crushes outlook.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/investinglive.com\/centralbank\/rbas-hauser-warns-of-stagflation-risk-as-energy-shock-hits-economy-20260413\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"follow\" data-article-link=\"true\">RBA\u2019s Hauser warns of stagflation risk as energy shock hits economy.<\/a><\/li>\n<li> says not sure interest rates are at the right level to tame inflation, adds rates need to bring inflation to the 2-3% target and that Q2 headline inflation is around 5% due to fuel costs<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Summary:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li data-section-id=\"3yqwg\" data-start=\"2040\" data-end=\"2093\">Business confidence plunges to -29 (from 0 prior). Lowest since the GFC. <\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"177xzia\" data-start=\"2094\" data-end=\"2135\">\nSecond largest monthly drop on record\n<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"1g8fogo\" data-start=\"2136\" data-end=\"2172\">\nBusiness conditions down to +6 (prior +7)<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"1plupnx\" data-start=\"2173\" data-end=\"2209\">\nSales ease slightly (+11 vs +12)\n<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"12pihoj\" data-start=\"2210\" data-end=\"2242\">\nProfits fall to +1 (from +4)\n<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"1sllf0u\" data-start=\"2243\" data-end=\"2285\">\nCost pressures surge, margins squeezed<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-start=\"139\" data-end=\"335\">Australian business confidence collapsed in March, posting one of the sharpest deteriorations on record as firms reacted to the economic shock stemming from the Iran war and surging energy prices.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"337\" data-end=\"661\">The NAB Business Confidence Index plunged 29 points to -29 in March, down from 0 in February. The scale of the decline ranks as the second largest monthly fall in the survey\u2019s history, comparable to periods of acute financial stress, and signals a rapid and broad-based deterioration in sentiment across the business sector.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"663\" data-end=\"953\">In contrast, business conditions held steady at +6, highlighting a growing disconnect between current activity and forward-looking expectations. While firms are still reporting reasonable operating conditions, confidence has collapsed as they brace for a more challenging environment ahead.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"955\" data-end=\"1279\">Underlying details point to mounting cost pressures and margin compression. Sales eased slightly but remained relatively firm at +11, down from +12, while profitability deteriorated more sharply, with the profits index falling to +1 from +4. This suggests businesses are increasingly struggling to absorb rising input costs.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1281\" data-end=\"1576\">Purchase costs surged at a quarterly pace of 3%, driven in part by higher energy prices, but firms appear to be finding it difficult to pass these increases through to consumers. Retail price growth slowed to 0.5% from 0.9%, indicating limited pricing power and intensifying pressure on margins.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1578\" data-end=\"1805\">The backdrop is further complicated by tighter monetary policy, with the RBA having raised rates again in March to 4.1%, alongside expectations that fuel-driven inflation could push headline CPI toward 5% in the second quarter.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1807\" data-end=\"2017\">Taken together, the data paints a stark picture\u2014businesses are still operating at reasonable levels today, but confidence has effectively collapsed as firms anticipate a sharp deterioration in conditions ahead.<\/p>\n<p>                            This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at investinglive.com.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Australian business confidence collapses as energy shock crushes outlook. Earlier: RBA\u2019s Hauser warns of stagflation risk as energy shock hits economy. says not sure interest rates are at the right level to&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":216,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[86],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-429496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-market-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/216"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=429496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429496\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=429496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=429496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=429496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}