David Chaston details the key news overnight in 90 seconds at 9 am in association with Bank of New Zealand, including news that the key trend overnight has been the strengthening kiwi dollar.
It has been rising against most currencies, and has pushed up to 79.35 US cents as international markets get more comfortable with risk. US earnings reports are coming in as the markets expected.
But it is more than that in our case. We are rising against the Aussie dollar too because we have a less risky export base in food whereas their minerals are at risk from a slowdown in China.
Against the euro we continue to push up the record level and we are now over 62 euro cents. Good if you are planning a vacation in Europe, and their falling currency value is the one hope they have to extract themselves out of the deep economic funk they are in.
An ECB spokesperson said overnight the Eurozone is in a very difficult situation because their growth is insufficient to get them out of their debt problems.
Their choices are very tough unless they print. But a falling currency may be one thing that can help. Industrial giant Philips issued a profit warning overnight on the basis of falling demand.
Elsewhere, India, Japan and China all readied themselves for a cutoff in oil from Iran, scrambling for alternate supplies.
But the oil price fell back from a sharp rise yesterday. That correction was too small and too late to stop a 5c per litre rise at our pumps, and maybe the local oil companies have acted too quickly – our rising currency should insulate us from such hikes.
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16 Comments
www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/6239582/NZ-Super-Fund-value-declines-1-4…
And the gambling with every NZder's taxes/future retirement fund continues. Why not just give it to a casino to invest?
Or buy some rental properties? I'm not trying to be funny, seriously 5-7% return every year, in cash, who gives a crap about CG's. Indexed to inflation, year on year cashflow. Making a loss like that exposes the folly of investing for capital gains. Where is the cashflow?
Who trusts that this fund is going to pay their retirement, not me.
If people had a "choice"? I agree in one respect, the NZ taxpayer has a right to decide whether their taxes should be in this fund. I'm all for allowing people to control their own finances, lower the tax rates and remove mass dependency. Those that want to invest in rentals fine, those that want other investments fine too, just give people control over their lives for better or worse!
You're presumably also in favour - I think it's worth making it explicit - of making people responsible for funding their own retirement, ie no NZS as well as no NZSF.
Otherwise the choice you are offering is - do you want to pay for your retirement yourself, or would you rather somebody else's children and grandchildren did it for you?
It's never been claimed that the NZSF is going to pay for anybody's retirement. It's currently expected to cover less than 10% of the total cost of NZS by about 2050. The Government would need to be paying a lot more into the Fund if it was intended to meet the whole cost.
Yesterday, we were paying NZ$2.069 / litre - at yesterday's fx rate, that is equivalent to AU$1.59 / litre; even though GST is 10% in Aussie and 15% here there is more to the difference than GST.
But today we are paying NZ$2.119 / litre - at todays fx rate, that is AU$1.63 / litre.
Taxes (incl GST) make up NZ$0.88 / litre here.
Naughty boy ! ... we've been over this ground before , David . It's a smidgeon bogus to do currency conversions in this way .
... Gummy is looking at a very basic job here in SA , which has a base wage of $A 47 800 . The same job in NZ would probably pay a mere $NZ 28 600 . If I follow your line of reasoning , the job here pays $NZ 62 140 ! ... but when I go down to Woolies or Coles , they want $A , not $NZ .
Not looking good for the chch CBD...
"About 6000 businesses employed 50,000 people in the city centre before the quakes, and only a few have returned.
Last month, a survey of 100 former central Christchurch businesses found that only 40 per cent wanted to return, and 38 per cent were unlikely to do so. Twenty per cent were unsure."
New Zealand...a paradise of idiots
"This is a country where:
A pizza can get to your house faster than an ambulance.
People order double cheeseburgers, large fries and a diet coke.
We leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the drive and lock our junk and a cheap lawnmower in the garage.
Forty-two people have been injured since 1999 from not removing all pins from new shirts.
Five have died since 1994 because they watered the Christmas tree while the fairy lights were still plugged in.
About 50 people are burnt each year ironing their clothes while still wearing them"
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/business/6239258/Should-farmers-be-licensed-to-operate
What a start to the morning....how's your pension looking?
"Governments may have to follow the same path for their own employees as well as increasing the retirement age to at least 70 and possibly 75 to make the pensions affordable, Cowling wrote in an article published in July by Public Service Europe. "
Have a dish of mish Walter..
"There are numerous signs the entire Eurozone is in recession, including Germany. Nonetheless economic dunces talk as if recession can be avoided. For making just that claim, I blasted the IMF on Monday in Dimwit Comment of the Day: Christine Lagarde, IMF Director says "Europe May Avoid a Recession This Year"".
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/
Here's the thing: Nobody as far as we know in the splurging Treasury is bothering to run the numbers on the real impact of this EU recession and Chinese slow down and American recession and Australian property decline and Japanese depression...on this economy....
Throw in the certainty that war will break out in the Gulf with Iran lashing out at American forces, forcing the price of oil to scream higher....toss in the American presidential farce this year...
But...in NZ we are going to have a good old time of it thanks to the billions being invested in the rebuilding of chch and the other billions invested in rebuilding the 80ooo rotting buildings....believe it or not...!
The Christchurch City Council has reneged on an offer to pay for the burial costs of earthquake victims in a memorial cemetery.
Instead they are using the funds to fatten the CEOs bloated salary for being 'up to par' on his job!
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