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Optimism rules on the world’s largest economy. Last week’s slew of reports underpinned the cautiously upbeat outlook for the US, even though one showed an unexpected contraction in American GDP in the fourth quarter. On Friday, data showed that US payrolls rose 157,000 in January, with a substantially revised 196,000 gain in the prior month and a 247,000 climb in …

The New Zealand dollar gained against the greenback and reached a five-and-a-half year high on a trade-weighted basis as improving US employment figures underpinned a rally on Wall Street and stoked investors’ appetite for higher-yielding assets. The kiwi was unchanged at 84.53 US cents at 8am in Wellington from the close of trading on Friday in New York, and up …

Kathmandu, the outdoor equipment retail chain, boosted first-half profit by as much as 75 percent on the strength of sales across the Tasman. Net profit was between $9.5 million and $10.5 million in the six months ended Jan. 27, compared to $6 million a year earlier, the retailer said in a statement. That came from a 13 percent increase in …

The government has launched the cornerstone of its policy to encourage new, high value, high-tech products and services across science, engineering, design and technology disciplines. To be known as Callaghan Innovation, the institution brings together the former crown research institute Industrial Research Ltd, the business investments team at the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment, the Auckland Foodbowl initiative, and …

By Pam Graham Reserve Bank governor Graeme Wheeler has tax and regulation reforms on his wish-list to foster local savings and investment, saying they would help improve the nation’s economy. In his first public speech of the year, Wheeler told the Canterbury Employers’ Chamber of Commerce the first way to lift the country’s economic performance is through raising savings and …

– New Zealand shares continued their strong run-up since the New Year, with Fletcher Building hitting a new five year high of $9.52, although Fonterra Shareholders Fund units dropped back below $7 for the first time this year as fallout from the DCD issue continued. The NZX 50 Index rose 5.101 points, or 0.12 percent to 4,252.647, its highest since …

The New Zealand dollar pared gains from a more optimistic Reserve Bank review today after rating agency Standard & Poor’s joined the dots between a slowing Australian economy and the possible peak of the nation’s mining boom. The kiwi dollar rose to 83.47 US cents at 5pm in Wellington from 83.11 cents just before the RBNZ announcement, but was down …

Godfrey Hirst, the biggest carpet maker in Australia and New Zealand, has bought Oamaru’s unprofitable yarn-spinning plant from Japan’s Sumitomo Corp, effectively putting 192 staff on notice as it looks at ways to turn the operation around. The company, which bought the Feltex business out of receivership, was granted Overseas Investment Office approval to buy the assets last month. It …

An unnamed Swedish institution has been cleared to buy eight Waikato dairy farms from local billionaire Graeme Hart’s Carter Holt Harvey by the Overseas Investment Office. Southern Pastures Limited Partnership was given a green light to buy 3,205 hectares of land in December for an undisclosed sum, according to a decision summary published today. The farms have been for sale …

Chief Justice Sian Elias has floated the prospect of the Supreme Court restraining the government to selling no more than 25 percent of state-owned power companies while it sorts out a long term solution to Maori claims to freshwater rights under the Treaty of Waitangi. Her comments came at the end of the first morning of two days’ scheduled hearings …