New Zealand: Business confidence dips in October
The ANZ bank business outlook indicator weakened in October. As a consequence, a net 8.6% of firms reported that they expect general business conditions to worsen in the year ahead, deteriorating from a net 7.2% of firms expecting bleaker general business conditions in the year ahead in September. As a result, the headline reading moved further below the net-0% threshold that separates optimism from pessimism among businesses.
Business turned less pessimistic with regards to ease of credit expectations and their inflation expectations eased slightly. However, export and investment intentions worsened.
Meanwhile, firms’ outlooks regarding their own activity—a metric which has a stronger correlation to GDP growth—rose to a net 26.2% in October from a net 18.2% in September.