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Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s speech on Wednesday will be firmly on everyone’s radar for clues on the tapering of the central bank’s bond-buying program following the latest better-than-expected US employment report.) – Labor Department data showed on Friday that employers added 195,000 new jobs to their payrolls last month, comfortably beating expectations. The unemployment rate was steady at 7.6 …

The New Zealand dollar trade weighted index is heading for a 0.9 percent weekly gain as central banks in Australia and Europe kept their easing bias amid uncertain outlooks for their respective economies. The trade-weighted index rose to 74.59 at 5pm in Wellington from 74.07 yesterday, and was up from 73.89 at the start of the week. The kiwi traded …

New Zealand officials are again seeking clarification from China after meat consignments were stalled on Chinese wharves for the second time in as many months. Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy, who is in China on a trade mission, said he learned on Thursday that China had changed meat import rules and is now requiring sign off by a veterinarian directly …

Kevin Rudd’s new chief of staff Jim Murphy has strong links with New Zealand’s policy and business elites, even if his boss doesn’t. Murphy, an Australian Treasury deputy secretary, was at Peter Costello’s side when the former Australian Liberal Treasurer co-launched the Australasia single market process with former NZ Finance Minister Michael Cullen a decade ago. A taciturn man, he …

With Tony Abbott lagging as preferred PM against Kevin Rudd, Liberal frontbencher Malcolm Turnbull has cast the election as a contest between a presidential pitch and “a traditional cabinet-based, consultative team approach to government”. In a speech titled “Leadership in times of Uncertainty”, Turnbull said: “We do not see this election as a presidential contrast, a contest between Kevin Rudd …

Rakon, the second-worst performing stock on the New Zealand sharemarket in the past year, will sell 80 percent of its Chinese joint venture factory to a Chinese electronics manufacturer for US$18.8 million to reduce debt. Rakon, which will retain a 5 percent holding in the venture, is selling the stake to Shenzhen Stock Exchange listed ZheJiang East Crystal Electronic Co, …

The receiver for accused Ponzi scheme operator David Ross sold about $199,000 of family paintings and is looking at the family-owned properties as he tries to unravel the affairs of Ross Asset Management. PwC’s John Fisk and Duncan Bridgman have been appointed to preserve the assets of the Ross family and related trusts as part of the wider investigation into …

Accused Ponzi-style scheme operator David Ross made an appearance of less than five minutes in the Wellington District Court this morning, just enough time for his counsel to seek adjournment until Aug. 22 for substantive hearings on eight Crimes and Financial Advisers Act charges. Ross faces charges relating to $384.8 million of assets recorded in the accounts of a Ross …

The receiver for Strategic Finance has pushed out its deadline to cut a deal with the directors of the failed lender as it begins talking to a third party about settling a potential claim. PwC’s John Fisk has “effectively” completed a deal with Strategic’s directors over potential breaches of the Companies Act, but has put the deadline on hold while …

Penny Macdonald Many trade negotiators in Indonesia for the famous pre-Bogor APEC meetings were excited about the emerging vision of free trade.  It was hard to believe that everyone was poised to sign on to such an ambitious goal.  In a bar in Jakarta, having somewhat patronisingly congratulated one Senior Official on (finally) joining the consensus, I can still hear …