NZ business confidence (preliminary) for March 0.0 (prior 7.0)

New Zealand ANZ business survey for March, preliminary

Business Confidence drops to zero

• prior 7.0

Activity Outlook 17.4

• prior 21.3

(In brief) ANZ commentary:

• preliminary ANZ Business Outlook data for March was a mixed bag
• employment intentions up 5 points
• capacity utilisation up 2 points
• Investment intentions were little changed
• Expected costs rose 2 points to a net 74% expecting higher costs ahead
• Firms are intending to pass the costs on where possible, with a net 49% of firms intending to raise their prices, up 3%pts.
• inflation expectations lifted too, from 1.76% to 1.95%, pretty much at the 2% RBNZ CPI target midpoint