Economic Weekly: Business confidence remains low
- The Q2 NZIER Quarterly Survey of Business Opinion was weaker than we expected – again.
- We have changed our OCR call and now expect the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) to cut the Official Cash Rate (OCR) by 50bps (to 1%) by the end of the year.
- Following the weekend’s strong US payrolls print, the focus for markets will be whether the US Federal Open Market Committee will signal that the 2¼-2½% Federal Funds rate is likely to head lower, with markets still expecting 2019 Fed rate cuts.
Contact us
Mark Smith
Senior Economist
Mark joined ASB in 2017, with over 20 years of public and private sector experience working as an economist in New Zealand and the UK.
His resume includes lengthy stints at ANZ and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, and he has also worked at the Bank of England, HM Treasury and the New Zealand Transport Agency. Mark's areas of specialisation include interest rate strategy, macro-economic analysis and urban economics.
Born and bred in the Waikato, Mark studied at Waikato University where he graduated with a Master of Social Sciences, majoring in Economics.
Mark's key strengths are the ability to use his extensive experience, inquisitive nature, analytical ability, creativity and pragmatism to dig a little deeper and to deliver common sense solutions to tackle complex problems.
When not at work Mark likes to travel, keep fit and spend time with his friends and family.
- Email: Mark
