• Headline business confidence was little changed from last month's low levels, but there was a mildly encouraging bounce in the own activity measure.

• Credit headwinds appear to be easing but most activity indicators remain at subdued levels.

• Pricing indicators were fairly stable.

Headline business confidence remains low. A net 38% of businesses are pessimistic about the year ahead, versus 39% in November. Headline business confidence remains negative across all the five sub-sectors. However, firms' views on their own activity, which has the stronger correlation to GDP growth, lifted from +7 to +16. The historical average is 28.