New Zealand December services PMI 48.8 (prior 51.2)

<p>BNZ – BusinessNZ Performance of Services Index (PSI) fell back into contraction during December.</p><p>PSI for December was 48.8</p><ul><li> down 2.3 points from November</li><li>well under the long-term average of 53.4</li></ul><p>

BNZ comment:</p><ul><li>“the softening in the PSI, alongside the weakness in the PMI, is bad news for both near term growth and employment in New Zealand. Tourism has been a key driver of the services sector and will continue to support the economy, but it can’t do all the heavy-lifting by itself”.</li></ul><p>NZD/USD is little changed, sitting on its low around 0.6072</p><p>–</p><p>Last we had the manufacturing PMI, also in dire straits:</p><ul><li><a href="https://www.forexlive.com/news/new-zealand-data-december-manufacturing-pmi-plunges-to-431-from-465-20240118/" target="_blank" rel="follow" data-article-link="true">New Zealand data – December manufacturing PMI plunges to 43.1, from 46.5</a></li></ul>

This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at www.forexlive.com.