New Zealand ANZ Business Confidence dropped to -30.9 in February, down from -24.1. Activity Outlook dropped to 10.5, down fro 13.6. ANZ noted that recent improvement in business activity stalled. Export intentions fell to the weakest since March 2009. Pricing intentions remain range-bound.
ANZ also noted that “Clearly the economy is stretched at the moment, but it does appear that momentum has waned markedly over the last six months.” And it expects RBNZ to become “less certain that core inflation will continue rising towards the midpoint of the target band”. ANZ forecasts a cut in OCR in November.
Also from down under, Australia private capital expenditure rose 2.0% in Q4 versus expectation of 1.0%. Private sector credit rose 0.2% mom in January versus expectation of 0.3% mom.
