The Performance of Manufacturing Index (PMI) held steady at 49.9 in September. It is a familiar story, with the manufacturing sector struggling for momentum.
Looking under the hood, movements in the PMI subindexes were mixed. The PMI production index bounced up from 47.0 to 50.1 in September.
The PMI employment index was the laggard and fell from 49.1 to 47.5 in September. It is yet another reminder that the labour market will lag the broader economic recovery.
On Wednesday, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) cut the Official Cash Rate by 50bps to 2.50%. We expect one final 25bp cut in November which would take the OCR to a low of 2.25%.
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