Fresh on BusinessDesk this morning
Jenny Ruth reports on Craigs’ verdict that Ryman Healthcare is still the top dog in the retirement sector.
Jenny also reports on Steel & Tube’s warning that prices are likely to escalate further in a ‘super-cycle’.
Brent Melville reports foreign buyers arriving as the borders open are expected to pump more demand into the property market.
Peter Griffin writes his weekly column on New Zealand’s desperate need for more digital skills.
Ella Somers reports beer giant Lion is spending $2m to open a coffee roastery in Auckland before winter, adding to its 2019 acquisition of Wellington’s Havana, which has outgrown its Tory St roastery.
Overnight events
Back over US$120/barrel – Oil prices bounced back by almost 5% overnight to over US$120/barrel (NZ$171) for Brent Crude after Russia announced storms had damaged a key Black Sea terminal of the Caspian pipeline carrying 1% of the world’s oil needs each day. Traders also fear US and European leaders meeting in Brussels tonight could further toughen their sanctions against Russian oil exports. They also didn’t like news of a slump in US oil stocks to record lows. US equity markets were down around 1% by 7.15am NZT and US bond yields took a breather after days of rising, with the US 10-year Treasury bond yield falling eight basis points to 2.3%.
‘Use the rouble instead’ – Russia announced buyers of its gas exports from “hostile countries” would now have to pay in roubles, rather than US dollars, to support the sagging Russian currency and help it get around punishing sanctions on Russian bank transfers and Russia’s access to its foreign reserves. The move pushed up European gas futures prices by 30% overnight and boosted the rouble by 5%.
Russian setbacks – Reports are mounting that Ukrainian forces are pushing Russian forces around Kyiv into retreat and increasing the Russian army death toll by over 10,000. Russia’s combat force is now less than 90% of the size it was just before the invasion of Ukraine. Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden is flying today to Brussels for NATO and European Union meetings where it’s expected NATO will agree to send equipment and training to Ukraine to help it deal with any chemical or biological weapons attacks.
‘I quit’ – Also, a key Russian official, Anatoly Chubais, quit his role overnight in what is seen as a fresh rebuke to Vladimir Putin from the upper echelons of Russia’s power structure over the president’s decision to invade Ukraine.
Cost of living crisis – British inflation was a faster-than-expected 6.2% in February from a year ago, heaping yet more cost-of-living pain on British consumers. They are expected to see their real disposable incomes drop 2.2% in the year ahead, thanks to expected inflation rising to a 40-year high of 8.7% this year. In response, UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak released Britain’s Spring Budget statement overnight with a five pence a litre fuel tax cut until next March and a cut in the basic rate of income tax.
This story has been corrected to note foreign investment has been in the wider property market, not just residential.
