Economy Watch

Kia ora, Welcome to Tuesday’s Economy Watch where we follow the economic events and trends that affect Aotearoa/New Zealand. I'm David Chaston and this is the international edition from Interest.co.nz. Today we lead with news that US dollar has fallen to a seven-month low as American disinflation extends in their economy and that is raising expectations of rate cuts in each of the Fed's remaining...

Kia ora, Welcome to Monday’s Economy Watch where we follow the economic events and trends that affect Aotearoa/New Zealand. I'm David Chaston and this is the international edition from Interest.co.nz. Today we lead with news we are now in the final two weeks of the northern holiday season, and that is anchored by the central bank shindig at Jackson Hole, WY starting at the end of the week. This we...

Deputy Governor Christian Hawkesby says the Reserve Bank's (RBNZ) Monetary Policy Committee might have taken a different stance in May if the economic activity forecasts had been more accurate. In May, forecasts had anticipated 1% GDP growth for the calendar year. But by August, that had been revised to a 0.4% contraction, with a deep decline in the June quarter. The RBNZ chose to cut the Official...

Kia ora, Welcome to Friday’s Economy Watch where we follow the economic events and trends that affect Aotearoa/New Zealand. I'm David Chaston and this is the international edition from Interest.co.nz. Today we lead with news the gloomsters are going to have to wait even longer for a US slowdown and 'recession'. Markets are reducing the chance of a Fed rate cut in mid-September. First up in the US,...

Kia ora, Welcome to Thursday’s Economy Watch where we follow the economic events and trends that affect Aotearoa/New Zealand. I'm David Chaston and this is the international edition from Interest.co.nz. Today we lead with news inflation data in both the US and UK keeps rate cuts in play. The widely-anticipated July American inflation rate came in largely as expected, dipping slightly to 2.9% from...

Kia ora, Welcome to Wednesday’s Economy Watch where we follow the economic events and trends that affect Aotearoa/New Zealand. I'm David Chaston and this is the international edition from Interest.co.nz. Today we lead with news the downturn in China is something that could quickly spread regionally. But first up today, the rise in retail sales at physical stores in the US was +4.7% last week, off...

Kia ora, Welcome to Tuesday’s Economy Watch where we follow the economic events and trends that affect Aotearoa/New Zealand. I'm David Chaston and this is the international edition from Interest.co.nz. Today we lead with news that is second tier today ahead of a string of key data releases. But there are many interesting bits today all the same. First in the US, a national NY Fed survey of consume...

Kia ora, Welcome to Monday’s Economy Watch where we follow the economic events and trends that affect Aotearoa/New Zealand. I'm David Chaston and this is the international edition from Interest.co.nz. Today we lead with news China is struggling to revive consumer interest in spending and consumption. But first, this coming week the key focus will be on the RBNZ Monetary Policy Review on Wednesday....

Kia ora, Welcome to Friday’s Economy Watch where we follow the economic events and trends that affect Aotearoa/New Zealand. I'm David Chaston and this is the international edition from Interest.co.nz. Today we lead with news Monday's equity dump is now a fading memory. First up, the latest signals from the US labour market are that there is no rising stress. Initial jobless claims came in less tha...

Kia ora, Welcome to Thursday’s Economy Watch where we follow the economic events and trends that affect Aotearoa/New Zealand. I'm David Chaston and this is the international edition from Interest.co.nz. Today we lead with news of a day of mostly restrained gains in economic metrics. First in the US, mortgage applications rose nearly +7% last week from the week before, driven by a sharpish -27 bps...

Kia ora, Welcome to Wednesday’s Economy Watch where we follow the economic events and trends that affect Aotearoa/New Zealand. I'm David Chaston and this is the international edition from Interest.co.nz. Today we lead with news global equity markets have essentially bounced back, consigning the Monday ructions to just a 'summer wobble'. But first up, there was another full dairy auction earlier to...

Kia ora, Welcome to Tuesday’s Economy Watch where we follow the economic events and trends that affect Aotearoa/New Zealand. I'm David Chaston and this is the international edition from Interest.co.nz. Today we lead with news equity markets are under severe pressure today, in ' extreme fear ' mode. And that is despite the current economic activity signals being relatively sanguine. First in the US...

The balance of power in the labour market sits firmly with employers, with a big rise in job applicants over the past year chasing a significantly diminished number of jobs, says Frog Recruitment Managing Director Shannon Barlow. "For our recruitment agency, we're probably experiencing around three to four times the volume of applications compared with last year. And that's across the board, acros...

Kia ora, Welcome to Monday’s Economy Watch where we follow the economic events and trends that affect Aotearoa/New Zealand. I'm David Chaston and this is the international edition from Interest.co.nz. Today we lead with news investors globally are having a re-think about the valuation rises that have gotten embedded since the pandemic. Warren Buffett is now cashed up. But before that, although it...

Kia ora, Welcome to Friday’s Economy Watch where we follow the economic events and trends that affect Aotearoa/New Zealand. I'm David Chaston and this is the international edition from Interest.co.nz. Today we lead with news the global bond market is rallying (prices up, yields down) with traders now pricing in three US Fed rate cuts before the end of the year. There is a sudden risk-off mood appe...

The Government's push to have more apartments, including shoebox apartments, built should be welcomed over time by a range of buyers including first home buyers, property investors and retirees, suggests John Bolton, founder of mortgage broker, lender and savings product provider Squirrel. Speaking in a new episode of interest.co.nz's  Of Interest podcast , Bolton, also a former banker who has dab...

Kia ora, Welcome to Thursday’s Economy Watch where we follow the economic events and trends that affect Aotearoa/New Zealand. I'm David Chaston and this is the international edition from Interest.co.nz. Today we lead with news two big central banks have been active in their signaling over the past 24 hours. First up today, as many expected the US Fed sent a clear signal that they are more open to...

Kia ora, Welcome to Wednesday’s Economy Watch where we follow the economic events and trends that affect Aotearoa/New Zealand. I'm David Chaston and this is the international edition from Interest.co.nz. Today we lead with news the Bank of Japan will grab the headlines later today. But first up, there was another dairy auction event overnight, the shorter Pulse event of SMP and WMP only. This one...

Kia ora, Welcome to Tuesday’s Economy Watch where we follow the economic events and trends that affect Aotearoa/New Zealand. I'm David Chaston and this is the international edition from Interest.co.nz. Today we lead with news in the growing shadow of upcoming central bank decisions. Financial markets are having a toughish time reading the tea-leaves on what the US Fed will do at this week's meetin...

Kia ora, Welcome to Monday’s Economy Watch where we follow the economic events and trends that affect Aotearoa/New Zealand. I'm David Chaston and this is the international edition from Interest.co.nz. Today we lead with news we may now be much closer to rate cuts in some major economies. But first, this week we are looking at some big set-piece data and policy items from the US, mainly at the end...

Mainstream economics courses teach students money is a scarce resource and nature has boundless capacity to be exploited when in fact it's the other way around, argues Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) economist Steven Hail. Advocates say you don't do MMT, rather it's a description of how the monetary system works. And countries like New Zealand, where the Government - via the Reserve Bank - is the mon...

Kia ora, Welcome to Friday’s Economy Watch where we follow the economic events and trends that affect Aotearoa/New Zealand. I'm David Chaston and this is the international edition from Interest.co.nz. Today we lead with news the rise of the US economy and the slowdown in China that Beijing can't seem to arrest is twisting a vast cast of supporting economies and their currencies. The NZD and AUD ar...

Kia ora, Welcome to Thursday’s Economy Watch where we follow the economic events and trends that affect Aotearoa/New Zealand. I'm David Chaston and this is the international edition from Interest.co.nz. Today we lead with news that despite good economic data, Wall Street equity prices are tanking today as it downs in investors they have been far too bullish on AI prospects. But first, there were J...

Kia ora, Welcome to Wednesday’s Economy Watch where we follow the economic events and trends that affect Aotearoa/New Zealand. I'm David Chaston and this is the international edition from Interest.co.nz. Today we lead with news lower commodity prices spread more widely overnight and a dark mood flowed over Chinese equity markets late yesterday. But first, there was a GDT Pulse auction event overni...

Kia ora, Welcome to Tuesday’s Economy Watch where we follow the economic events and trends that affect Aotearoa/New Zealand. I'm David Chaston and this is the international edition from Interest.co.nz. Today we lead with news it’s been a toughish night for commodity currencies as markets mark down these prospects. That has been true for both hard and soft commodities, although it is more of a sag...