All eyes are set for the latest round of US corporate earnings after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke finally managed to reassure investors that the central bank’s stimulus effort is not going to evaporate any time soon. Markets had been pricing in a tapering of the Fed’s US$85 billion a month bond-buying program since late May after Bernanke said as …

New Zealand’s Reserve Bank, concerned about spiralling house prices causing financial instability, could force lenders to limit borrowings as early as next month, economists say. Submissions on the Reserve Bank’s proposal to restrict bank lending on low-equity loans closed on July 3. A summary of submissions, along with the central bank’s response, is likely to be published ahead of an …

State-controlled power company MightyRiverPower will join the benchmark NZX 50 index later this month as the sixth biggest company on the stock market. With MRP’s inclusion in the index from July 22, four of the country’s 10 largest NZX companies by market capitalisation will be electricity sector players, with Meridian Energy’s $3.3 billion or so float hanging over the market …