Britain's unemployment rate stood at 4.9% in the three months to February, down from 5.2% in the prior three-month period, according to data from the Office for National Statistics published Tuesday.
Analysts expected unemployment to remain stable at 5.2%.
Meanwhile, the UK employment rate was 75% during the quarter to February.
The New Zealand Institute of Economic Research's (NZIER) first-quarter survey of business opinion returned mixed results with no specific implications for the risks around ANZ's forecast for the country's official cash rate, the bank said in a Tuesday report.Although the survey showed a pronounced decline in business confidence, deteriorating hiring and investment intentions, and an uptick in inflation indicators, past activity held up in the quarter, and capacity indicators pointed to a marginal tightening in the output gap, ANZ said.It noted that the survey reflected business sentiment at the initial stage of the Middle East conflict, as responses were spread across March. Reported past trading activity, the best indicator for gross domestic product in the survey, was relatively more positive."That said, other indicators of Q1 activity have been weaker, and the forward-looking indicators make for grim reading, so we won't be rushing to lift our GDP forecast," ANZ said.It added that experienced employment fell in the most recent survey, while future employment intentions also slumped, suggesting that a nascent recovery in employment ground to a halt.
New Zealand consumer prices rose 0.9% in the March quarter, with the annual inflation rate remaining unchanged at 3.1%, resulting in this quarter's inflation going above the previously anticipated 0.7% rise, Westpac said in a report on Tuesday.The result also exceeded the Reserve Bank's updated forecast from its April policy update for 3% annual inflation, Westpac NZ senior economist Satish Ranchhod said.Underpinning the March quarter rise in consumer prices were large increases in some specific areas, including food prices, transport costs, and electricity charges and the tobacco excise tax, along with big rises in vehicle registration and health care costs.Westpac recently updated its forecasts, assuming annual inflation would peak at 4.3% in the June quarter, before slowing down to 3.9% by the end of the year, but there might be an upside risk given Tuesday's result, per the report.
The ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian consumer confidence fell 0.2 points to 64.3 in the week of April 13 to 19, ANZ reported Tuesday.The four-week moving average rose 0.3 points to 62.5 points.Australian consumer confidence was broadly unchanged during the reported week, remaining at its fourth-lowest level on record since 1973, as weaker economic sentiment offset stable labor market conditions, while higher fuel prices and soft confidence are expected to weigh on spending, according to ANZ economist Sophia Angala.The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Deputy Governor Hauser said last week that inflation in Australia remains too high and emphasized the importance of keeping expectations anchored, reinforcing our view that the RBA is likely to deliver a 25 basis point rate hike in May, Angala added.Weekly inflation expectations inched up to 7.1% from 6.7%, while the current financial condition indicator for 12 months rose 5.8 points to 58.4. The future financial conditions for the next 12 months decreased to 75.3 points from 76.4.Short-term economic confidence for the next year fell 2.8 points to 51.3, while medium-term economic confidence for the next five years decreased to 72.9 points from 76.7.The "time to buy a major household item" subcategory rose 1 point to 63.7.