​The Business Tendency Survey is a quarterly survey which provides qualitative information about the Island’s economy in a timely manner.

It covers private sector businesses in Jersey, and asks the chief executive or managing director of sampled businesses for their opinions on the current situation of their business compared to 3 months previously and also for their expectations for the next 3 months.

The December 2010 report shows that:

• the headline indicator of Business Activity declined marginally in the latest quarter. There was a notable difference between the strongly positive Business Activity of the finance sector and the negative tendency recorded by the other sectors of the economy
• the Business Activity and New Business indicators for finance were at their most positive for 18 months; 4 other indicators for the sector recorded declines compared with the previous quarter
• the non-finance sectors saw Business Optimism and Future Business Activity fall to their most negative levels to date
• the construction sector was negative for all indicators, with 5 of the 10 recording their lowest levels in 18 months
• the wholesale and retail sector saw notable improvement in the New Business and Employment indicators compared with the previous quarter, although 9 indicators for the sector remained negative