Mixed signals on health of financial services
The financial services sector has led the way with respect to improving business confidence, according to the latest data released by Roy Morgan Research.
The data, dealing with quarterly business confidence in Australia, has revealed that confidence among companies working in the areas of finance and insurance has climbed considerably since the start of 2013.
The findings appear to run counter to suggestions that job opportunities in the financial services arena actually declined over the same period.
An analysis released by eFinancialCareers claimed financial services job opportunities declined 34 per cent in the first quarter compared to the same period last year.
eFinancialCareers managing director Asia-Pacific George McFerran claimed the decline of job opportunities was reflective of a shift in organisation priorities and that there was currently a definite focus on retrenchment.
However, the Roy Morgan data showed business confidence in the sector was actually marginally above that for the same period last year.
While not specifically commenting on conditions in the finance and insurance sectors, Roy Morgan director of business research Nigel Smith said a variety of business indicators now showed that during January and February of this year, Australian businesses experienced a brief upturn in confidence and overall business conditions.
However he said March had marked the end of that upturn.
"Whatever boost the small cuts in interest rates in late 2012 may have brought to the overall level of demand in the economy, that effect appears to have run its course," he said. "The question for businesses over coming months, with official interest rates at their lowest point since the GFC, the Australian dollar still above parity with the US dollar, and the likely next Australian Government promising to cut Government debt, is where will the next stimulus to consumer demand come from?"
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