New Zealand: Business confidence falls in February
Latest reading: The ANZ Business Confidence Index declined to 59.2 in February, following January’s 64.1. The latest reading was above the threshold of 0 that separates optimistic from pessimistic sentiment.
Firms’ outlook for their own activity improved slightly, while export intentions and investment intentions both weakened. Employment intentions were broadly unchanged. Sentiment toward residential construction fell noticeably, whereas commercial construction edged up. Profit expectations softened, perceptions of credit availability deteriorated, and views on activity compared with a year earlier—which has the strongest correlation with GDP—also declined but remained strong.