New Zealand: Business confidence plunges further into pessimistic territory in September
The ANZ bank business outlook indicator fell by 1.2 points in September, with a net 53.5% of firms reporting that they expect general business conditions to deteriorate in the year ahead. The headline reading therefore moved further below the net-0% threshold that separates pessimism from optimism among businesses. September’s result reflected falling profit expectations and investment intentions, which more than offset slightly softer concerns over tighter credit conditions, and an uptick in employment intentions.
Meanwhile, firms’ outlook regarding their own activity—a metric which has a stronger correlation to GDP growth—declined to an over decade-low of net minus 1.8% in September, after reporting a net minus 0.5% in August. Notably, the activity outlook lays in negative territory for all sectors covered by the survey now.