Australia’s NAB business conditions index falls to -2 in October

The move deeper into negative territory matters less for its size than for its direction: conditions are now deteriorating on the survey's own terms, not merely hovering around a flat line. This is a signal about the private-sector backdrop that Australian policymakers and rate-watchers will read alongside other activity data. Whether the index keeps sliding into year-end, or stabilizes as the prior month's smaller decline suggested, is the open question.