Participants look to the latest NAB.......>

AUSTRALIA: Participants look to the latest NAB business survey, due at the

bottom of the hour. In terms of the headline reading, participants will be on

the lookout for the impact of the shock victory for the coalition in the Federal

Elections, while markets will quickly look to the employment sub-component ahead

of Thursday's key labour market report, with the dynamics in the domestic labour

market integral to the RBA's monetary policy settings. The unemployment rate has

edged higher in recent months, moving from 4.9% to 5.2% between February &

April. The median estimate of those surveyed by BBG looks for a marginal

downtick in unemployment on Thursday, to 5.1%, although it is worth noting that

the headline employment print may be supported by dynamics surrounding the

Federal Election. It is also worth remembering that underemployment and

underutilisation have edged higher YtD.

- Back to the specifics of the NAB survey. April's release saw the employment

sub-component move into negative territory for the first time since January

2016; back then we saw one isolated negative print, although this came after

2012-2015, a period that saw more negative readings than positive.