A preview of New Zealand's ANZ business survey for May:
- Activity Outlook, prior 17.8
- Business Confidence, prior -23.4
This via Westpac:
- Business confidence fell in April, led by a weaker outlook by firms in the construction sector.
- The extent of the deterioration in confidence in construction was surprising given the Government's promotion of its Kiwibuild programme and significant housing shortages in the Auckland region. However, it is consistent with other indicators, such as consents, which suggest a lull in building activity in the coming months. It will be interesting to see if the pessimistic outlook of construction firms was maintained in May.
- Inflation expectations were little changed last month despite CPI falling sharply in Q1.
