New Zealand ANZ Business Confidence improved to -37.1 in October, up from -38.3. Confidence is weakest in agriculture (-62.8) and best in construction (-14.8). Activity Outlook index dropped -0.4 to 7.4. Manufacturing (16.2) is the strongest, possibly due to lower New Zealand Dollar exchange rate. Services ranks second (12.6). Retail (-7.8) and agriculture (-2.3) are weakest.
On monetary policy, ANZ noted that “The Reserve Bank argued in the August Monetary Policy Statement that ticking along wasn’t going to do the job, in terms of getting CPI inflation sustainably back to target. We therefore continue to believe that while the impacts of higher wage growth, higher oil prices, and the weaker currency certainly mean there’s no hurry, it remains the case that an eventual OCR cut is more likely than a hike.
Also from New Zealand, building permits dropped -1.5% mom in September.
