Asian business sentiment plunges to record low on virus effect

While the pandemic's initial impact was reflected in the March survey, confidence during the June quarter fell by a third to 35, only the second time the Thomson Reuters/INSEAD Asian Business Sentiment Index has slumped below 50 since the survey began in the second quarter of 2009.Read more at:

SINGAPORE - Business sentiment of Asian companies sank to an 11-year low in the second quarter, a Thomson Reuters/INSEAD survey found, with some two-thirds of the firms polled flagging a worsening COVID-19 pandemic as the biggest risk over the next six months.

While the pandemic's initial impact was reflected in the March survey, confidence during the June quarter fell by a third to 35, only the second time the Thomson Reuters/INSEAD Asian Business Sentiment Index has slumped below 50  ..

About 16% of the 93 companies surveyed also said a deepening recession was a key risk for the next six months, with more than half expecting staffing levels and business volumes to decline.

"We ran this survey right at the edge when things were getting really bad," Antonio Fatas, Singapore-based economics professor at global business school INSEAD, said of the survey conducted between May 29 and June 12.

"We can see this complete pessimism which is spread across sectors and c ..