New Zealand Services PMI drops into contraction: economic angst ahead?

<p>The New Zealand Services PMI for ocot:</p><ul><li>BNZ – BusinessNZ Performance of Services Index (PSI)</li><li>dropped into contraction at 48.9 from 50.6 in September</li><li>below the long-term average of 53.5 </li></ul><p>BusinessNZ comment on the result:</p><ul><li>“Despite the October result falling back into contraction, the proportion of negative comments stood at 58.2% for October, which was down from 61.8% in September and 63.9% in August. Overall, negative comments continued to be strongly dominated by the recent General Election, as well as a general slowdown in the economy”</li></ul><p>BNZ comment:</p><ul><li>“combined, the PSI (48.9) and PMI (42.5) paint a picture of economic angst. This counsels caution around GDP for Q3, after it posted a surprising gain of 0.9% in Q2”</li></ul><p>NZD/USD is little changed around 0.5891</p>

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