Kiwis splash out on travel, food in April as card spending rises
By Rebecca Howard | Fri, 10 May 2019
By Rebecca Howard May 10 (BusinessDesk) - Spending on credit and debit cards increased in April as people took advantage of the extended holiday period to travel and eat out more. Seasonally-ad...
Govt opens low-carbon summit with $47M commitment to new energy research
By Pattrick Smellie | Wed, 08 May 2019
By Pattrick Smellie May 9 (BusinessDesk) - The government will invest $27 million to establish a new energy centre in Taranaki as a gesture towards assisting the region's transition from a multi-bi...
Economists say more RBNZ rate cuts are coming
By Rebecca Howard | Wed, 08 May 2019
By Rebecca Howard May 8 (BusinessDesk) - The Reserve Bank of New Zealand cut rates by 25 basis points to a record low 1.5 percent and economists expect it to cut again. Changes to the central b...
NZ central bank cuts rates, signals more to come
By Rebecca Howard | Wed, 08 May 2019
By Rebecca Howard May 8 (BusinessDesk) - The Reserve Bank cut the official cash rate by 25 basis points to 1.5 percent and signaled more cuts to come. The New Zealand dollar fell. "The Monetary...
Short-term inflation expectations lift in RBNZ survey
By Rebecca Howard | Tue, 07 May 2019
By Rebecca Howard May 7 (BusinessDesk) - Business managers and finance professionals lifted their short-term inflation expectations in the latest Reserve Bank survey but held their longer-dated vie...
Treasury warns growth might be weaker than December forecast
By Rebecca Howard | Mon, 06 May 2019
By Rebecca Howard May 6 (BusinessDesk) - Treasury says partial indicators suggest New Zealand's economic growth has been throttled back and may be lower than it forecast in the December half-year u...
NZ commodity prices extend gain in April, March figures revised higher
By Rebecca Howard | Mon, 06 May 2019
By Rebecca Howard May 6 (BusinessDesk) - New Zealand commodity prices lifted in April and were significantly higher in March than previously reported, ANZ Bank’s monthly commodity price index shows...
US earnings season adds weight to Fed's up-beat view
By Jenny Ruth | Sun, 05 May 2019
By Jenny Ruth May 6 (BusinessDesk) - Corporate America is adding weight to the Federal Reserve's upbeat view of the US economy with about three-quarters of the S&P 500 Index companies that have rep...
Alliance expects African swine fever to support meat prices
By Rebecca Howard | Thu, 02 May 2019
By Rebecca Howard May 2 (BusinessDesk) - Red meat cooperative Alliance Group said meat prices are strong as the African swine fever outbreak decimates Chinese pork production. Chief executive Da...
UPDATE: NZ labour data has soft underbelly, will keep rate cut prospects alive
By Rebecca Howard | Wed, 01 May 2019
By Rebecca Howard May 1 (BusinessDesk) - New Zealand’s unemployment rate nudged lower and annual wage inflation ticked slightly higher. But given the underlying softness, the data is unlikely to sw...