ANZ business survey in New Zealand for December
Business Confidence -13.2
- prior -26.4
Activity Outlook 17.2
- prior 12.9
ANZ summary of the key points:
- Headline business confidence jumped another 13 points in December, while a net 17% of firms expect stronger activity ahead (up 4).
- The lifts in the manufacturing sector was particularly strong. Services and manufacturing are the most upbeat sectors; construction remains the least optimistic but is improving rapidly.
- All the main activity indicators rose except expected credit availability and residential construction intentions. Cost and pricing indicators are lifting.
- The main drivers for firms planning to lift investment are the domestic economic outlook, the level of spare capacity, and skilled labour shortages. Firms planning to cut investment cite the domestic economic outlook, central government policy and the global economic outlook as the three biggest drivers of their decision.
I had to do a double take on that first comment from ANZ. When they say confidence jumped 13 points they mean it improved by 13 points, from -26 to -13 (disregarding the decimal points). Still negative, but at its highest since the election in 2017.
Incremental improvements in NZ data are taking some of the pressure from the RBNZ to cut rates further and acting as supportive for NZD.
