Warehouse Group, New Zealand’s biggest listed retailer, has firmed up plans to improve its workforce with better training and longer service rewarded with higher pay. Starting Aug. 1, Warehouse will introduce a ‘career retailer wage’ for staff who have completed full training and worked 5,000 hours or more, equivalent to just over two years’ full-time work, the Auckland-based company said …

First home buyers remain “a priority” for the government and “all tools have to be considered” in balancing their needs with the Reserve Bank’s likely imposition of restrictions on home lending for buyers with small deposits, says Prime Minister John Key. Speaking to the Local Government New Zealand conference in Hamilton, Key appeared to accept the central bank was unlikely …

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index climbed to a record, bolstered by gains in banks after better-than-expected UBS earnings, while disappointing earnings for McDonald’s and an unexpected drop in US home sales underpinned expectations the Federal Reserve won’t be in a rush to taper its bond-buying program. In late afternoon trading in New York, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index …