Topics

Wall Street rallied amid optimism about the outlook for companies including Netflix as they beat earnings expectations. Shares of Netflix soared, last up 23.7 percent, after the company yesterday said it had added 2 million new US customers last quarter. Of the 131 Standard & Poor’s 500 Index companies that have reported their quarterly results so far, 73 percent have …

The Australian and New Zealand dollars fell after a measure of manufacturing in China grew at a slower-than-expected pace this month, stoking concerns that the world’s second-biggest economy is stumbling and global expansion is more muted. The HSBC Flash Purchasing Managers Index fell to 50.5 in April from 51.6 in March, missing estimates in a Bloomberg survey of 51.5. The …

New Zealand’s largest insurance group, IAG, has slightly improved its underlying profit margins on insurance products while passing on a doubling in the cost global reinsurance because of the Canterbury earthquakes. In a presentation for investors in Sydney, IAG’s New Zealand chief Jacki Johnson said reinsurance costs had risen to 15 percent of gross written premiums (GWP) in the first …

Technical issues at NZX have kept investors in the dark with no market announcements being published on the stock exchange operator’s website and Reuters and Bloomberg services not showing trading action. The stock exchange hasn’t published any new market announcements on its public website today, due to technical issues though trading is open, an NZX spokeswoman said. It was unclear …

Allied Farmers, which kept itself alive last month through a fire sale of toxic loans, has sold its Taranaki real estate unit for $472,500, more than a quarter of the group’s value by market capitalisation. The Hawera-based firm sold its Allied Farmers First National business to the unit’s manager’s Shawn Gibbon and Owen Mills as part of its asset sale …

MightyRiverPower expects it would take at least four years for the Labour and Green party electricity policies to be enacted. With more than a year until the next scheduled election, that could make the promised power price cuts as much as five years away. The MRP estimate is based on the parties’ own statements about the complex process such change …

Snakk Media, the latest brainchild of Hyperfactory co-founder Derek Handley, wants to raise up to $2 million through a share purchase plan near the bottom of an independent adviser report’s valuation range. The Auckland-based company will sell shares at 12 cents apiece, a 20 percent discount to the average trading price over the past 30 days, and near the lower …

THE COSTS OF AUSTERITY. With recent debate over austerity and its likely costs, last night’s fiscal debt and deficit data for Europe made for interesting reading. Encouragingly, the Eurozone general government budget deficit fell to 3.7% of GDP in 2012 from 4.2% in 2011, the lowest since 2008, comparing favourably with deficits for the US and UK (over 8% of GDP) …

Wall Street advanced, propelled by Microsoft and Caterpillar. Gains in Microsoft shares, last up 4.1 percent, bolstered momentum after reports that ValueAct Capital had taken a US$2 billion stake in the company. Shares of Caterpillar also rose, last up 3.3 percent. While the company reported earnings that fell short of expectations and downgraded its 2013 forecast, investors took heart from …

Inside US Trade is predicting the race for the WTO Director-General”s job is narrowing to an Indonesia-Brazil showdown.  As I noted in my column in the NZ Herald last week the key contest in the second “sudden death” round is between Groser, Brazil”s WTO ambassador Roberto Calvalho de Azevedo (reported as having an edge in diplomatic circles) and Indonesia”s former …