NZ business confidence plummets to lowest level since GFC as outlook for profitability drops

NZ business confidence plummets to lowest level since GFC as outlook for profitability drops
By Suze Metherell July 7 (BusinessDesk) - New Zealand’s business confidence plunged to the lowest level in three years in the second quarter as companies became pessimistic about profitability expectations. A net 5 percent of firms in the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research’s quarterly survey of business opinion expect general business conditions to improve, down from 23 percent three months earlier and the lowest level since June 2012. On a seasonally adjusted basis, net optimists fell to 7 percent from 20 percent the previous qua...