{"id":30964,"date":"2026-03-18T04:59:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T04:59:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/uncategorized\/30964\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T04:59:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T04:59:13","slug":"new-zealanders-westpac-consumer-survey-climbed-to-94-7-in-the-fourth-quarter-rising-from-90-9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/live-updates\/30964\/","title":{"rendered":"New Zealanders\u2019 Westpac consumer survey climbed to 94.7 in the fourth quarter, rising from 90.9"},"content":{"rendered":"New Zealand\u2019s Westpac Consumer Survey rose to 94.7 in the fourth quarter. It was 90.9 in the previous quarter.\n\nWe saw that piece of data on consumer confidence at the end of 2025, which showed a welcome improvement to 94.7. At the time, it suggested households were becoming less pessimistic, which was a tentative good sign for future spending. However, a reading below 100 still means there are more pessimists than optimists.\n\nThis data from last year was one of the early signals that the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) might have to hold interest rates high for longer than many anticipated. Increased confidence, even if small, can translate into more spending, making it harder to bring inflation down. This supported our view that the market was too aggressive in pricing in rate cuts for 2026.\n\nNow that we are in March 2026, that caution was warranted, as the most recent quarterly inflation data showed core inflation remaining sticky at 4.3%, well above the RBNZ’s target band. The central bank has signaled no immediate plans to lower its 5.5% official cash rate, reinforcing a “higher for longer” stance. Gross Domestic Product data from late 2025 also showed the economy contracting by 0.2%, confirming a technical recession and complicating the RBNZ’s task.\n\nIn the coming weeks, traders should consider positioning for sustained high interest rates. This involves looking at interest rate swaps that pay a fixed rate, essentially betting that the official cash rate will not be cut as soon as the market hopes. Volatility in the rates market may also decline as the RBNZ’s path becomes more predictable, making strategies like selling strangles on bond futures potentially profitable.\n\nThis interest rate outlook should continue to support the New Zealand dollar. With our rates holding firm while other central banks are signaling cuts, the NZD becomes more attractive. We should look at using currency options to bet on the Kiwi dollar strengthening, perhaps buying NZD\/USD call options with a three-month expiry.\n\nFor equity derivatives, the situation suggests a cautious approach. While better consumer sentiment is a positive, persistent high interest rates are a headwind for company earnings and valuations. Using NZX 50 index put options could be a prudent way to hedge against potential downside in the stock market over the next quarter.\n

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Start trading now – Click here<\/a> to create your real VT Markets account <\/strong> <\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Zealand\u2019s Westpac Consumer Survey increased to 94.7 in Q4, up from 90.9 last quarter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-updates"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"josephine","author_link":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/author\/josephine\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30964\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}