New Zealand July (final) Business Confidence: -31.8 (vs. prior -34.4) Activity Outlook: -8.9 (prior -25.9)

New Zealand ANZ business survey

Business Confidence: -31.8

• preliminary was -29.8
• prior -34.4

Activity Outlook: -8.9

• preliminary was -6.8
• prior -25.9

ANZ's key points 

• The vigorous bounce out of lockdown appears to be topping out, with most activity indicators in the ANZ Business Outlook survey slipping slightly from their early-July preliminary reads, albeit still well up on June. 
• The retail sector has driven much of the rebound since June.
• The export focused agriculture sector is now the most negative regarding expected activity, export intentions, profitability, credit availability, investment intentions and employment intentions. 
• 31% of firms say they intend to lay off staff, and 24% say they have fewer staff than a year ago (some of these will be the same firms). These numbers have improved significantly from their lows.