Economy

US Adds 916,000 Jobs in March; Jobless Rate Down 6%

April 07, 2021 12:26 AM PDT| By Team Kalkine Media

Source: Pixabay Summary Job growth in March highest since August 2020. Unemployment rate dropped 0.2 percent from February. Employment still down by 8.4 million from the pre-pandemic high in February 2020. The U.S. economy added 916,000...

Kiwi renters are struggling despite government’s housing market changes

April 05, 2021 10:06 PM PDT| By Team Kalkine Media

Source: godshutter, Shutterstock Last week, Ardern had announced many changes to the housing market, which included removal of interest as a taxable expense for landlords, increased income caps for first home buyers and extension of bright line test...

Worrying about rising bond yields? Here’s how to protect your portfolio

April 01, 2021 10:43 AM PDT| By Aayush

Source: Andrii Yalanskyi, Shutterstock Summary Having a judicious mix of debt with equity provides stability to the portfolio returns. Picking up a value stock at a bargain could provide a decent margin of safety during market sell-off. An in...

Price Rise: NZ Housing Crisis Continues To Bite Kiwis

April 01, 2021 02:08 AM PDT| By Team Kalkine Media

Source: Artazum Shutterstock Summary NZ middle-class and first-time home buyers sweat it out, as affordable accommodation appears to be distant dream. Housing issue continues as their prices escalate to a record high of 16.1% since 2006. Gove...

Is NZ Business Confidence Moving Down?

March 31, 2021 01:09 AM PDT| By Roma

Source: Panumas Yanuthai, Shutterstock Summary ANZ releases Business Outlook report, which shows falling confidence. Housing weaker than before, but still strongest on the list. Second half of the month captured the falling indicators, whose...

Is NZ Moving In The Right Direction To Resolve Its Housing Market Dilemma?

March 31, 2021 12:06 AM PDT| By Team Kalkine Media

Source: godshutter, Shutterstock Summary New Zealand is witnessing a surge in its housing prices almost for a year now. The Government has introduced a series of policies and plans, including NZ$3.8 billion to accelerate the construction of af...

RBNZ Eases Dividend Restrictions on Banks Due to Signs of Economic Recovery

March 30, 2021 06:57 PM PDT| By Manika

Source:Peshkova, Shutterstock Summary The RBNZ partially removes restrictions on dividend payouts by banks. Allows banks to pay up to 50% as dividends, full easing after July 1, 2022. This is due to the fact that the economy is in a recovery...

Will Australia go the NZ way of checking house prices?

March 29, 2021 07:08 PM PDT| By Team Kalkine Media

Source:Brian A Jackson, Shutterstock Summary Housing affordability worries could result in more Kiwis shifting to Australia. House prices in NZ soared by 21.5% annually, while property prices were up 3.6% annually in Australia. The Australian...

NZ house prices could go as high as 25% by mid-2020s: Kiwibank

March 28, 2021 08:05 PM PDT| By Sonal

Source:nednapa, Shutterstock The widespread rise in property prices poses a significant challenge for the NZ government. On 23 March, the government announced many measures focussed on controlling investors who have been pushing prices up. The anno...

Will Westpac's sale of its NZ business result in other Kiwi banks to follow suit?

March 25, 2021 11:00 PM PDT| By Team Kalkine Media

Source: Dr. Victor Wong, Shutterstock On 24 March, Westpac Banking Corporation (NZX:WBC, ASX:WBC) revealed that the bank was looking at the sale of its NZ operations and was taking into consideration whether a demerger would be in the best interest...