Overall, the survey continues to point to ongoing resilience in activity with conditions down slightly in September but remaining above average at +11 index points, where the index has hovered since May. Importantly, capacity utilisation remains high and there has been gradual improvement in forward orders including some improvement in retail forward orders in the month – albeit still at depressed levels. Business confidence was steady and while still sitting well below average, has been broadly neutral for several months suggesting firms are less concerned about the outlook than was the case previously. The survey ... (full story)