NA data - ANZ business survey for April, preliminary results

Business Confidence slides further, to -8.4

  • prior -4.1

Activity Outlook 16.4

  • prior 16.6

ANZ comments:

  • Details on the activity side were flat to weaker.
  • Employment and investment intentions were unchanged, and export intentions rose slightly, but capacity utilisation, the best GDP indicator, fell 3 points.
  • Expected credit availability also fell 6 points.
  • The proportion of firms reporting higher employment than a year ago fell 2 points.

On Inflation pressure, says ANZ:

  • Cost and inflation pressures remain intense.
  • Pricing expectations hit a new high, in data that goes back to 1992. Cost expectations data only goes back two years but also hit an eye-watering high of a net 75% of respondents expecting higher costs.

NZD not showing much of a response, its lower alongside weakness in AUD, EUR, CAD.