Wall Street rose, pushing the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to fresh record highs, as the International Monetary Fund said it plans to lift its outlook for the US economy. “Growth is picking up and unemployment is going down,” IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said yesterday on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press.’ “So all of …

New Zealand shares rallied as Australia & New Zealand Banking Group and Westpac Banking Corp shrugged off Australian regulatory requirements to hold more capital and offshore investors saw value in a market that has lagged global peers in recent days. The NZX 50 Index rose 41.444 points, or 0.9 percent, to 4722.635. Within the index, 33 stocks rose, 11 fell …

The New Zealand dollar held near its lowest in more than three weeks heading into the Christmas break and was weaker against the Australian dollar while not moving outside its recent trading range. The kiwi was at 81.97 US cents from 82.05 cents at the start of the day and from 82.09 cents in New York on Friday. The currency …