Standard & Poor’s upgraded credit outlook on the US failed to lift Wall Street from the doldrums as investors try to gauge the Federal Reserve’s plans for its bond-buying program. The next two-day Federal Open Market Committee meeting, starting on June 18, cannot come soon enough for many investors looking for direction of the central bank’s plans for quantitative easing. …

Serco New Zealand, the local unit of the UK’s Serco Group, reaped a modest profit in the first full year of its $300 million, 10-year contract to run Mt Eden/Auckland Central Remand Prison for the Department of Corrections. Profit was $368,623 in calendar 2012, from about $1 million in 2011, when it took over full management of the facility mid-way …

The New Zealand dollar may struggle for direction this week as investors weigh the possibility of a higher interest rate track in New Zealand against signs of recovery in the US. The kiwi may trade between 77 US cents and 81 cents this week, according to a BusinessDesk survey of six traders and strategists who were split on the local …