That's the big question ahead of the release on Thursday, June 20 of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures for the March quarter. After hitting 7.3% in mid 2022 the annual inflation rate was down to 4.0% as of the March quarter. And we are definitely now getting to the point where quarterly GDP figures with minus signs in front of them are starting to drag the morale of the country down. And the worst thing about all this is our recent 'headline' GDP figures don't even really tell the 'real' story. However, monthly data has continued to look weak and the March 2024 quarter figures were 2.4% down on those for the same quarter in 2023.

Here's our summary of key economic events overnight with news we need to keep an eye on a large drought developing in north-east China. A week ago it was 4.70% so relatively little change here. The price of gold will start today up +US$32 from yesterday at US$2333/oz and up +US$30 from a week ago. That all means our TWI-5 starts today down -20 bps at just on 71 which in turn is up +40 bps from a week ago. And that is down -5.2% from the US$69,031 a week ago.

By Caroline Williams ofPhoto: Supplied/NZ PoliceThe family of a woman missing in Auckland say they are not coping and "just want to see her again". Police are "urgently seeking" sightings of 26-year-old Monica Reid, who was last seen at her home on Matipo Road in Te Atatū about midday on Friday. Anyone who has seen Reid is urged to phone 111 and quote event number P059054868. "All of us, we love Monica so much." "Monica, if you are out there, know that I love you, we love you, and we just want to know you are safe."

Written By: darien fenton - Date published: 11:19 am, June 15th, 2024 - 19 commentsCategories: act, health and safety, workers' rights - Tags:ACT MP and Minister for Employment and Safety, Brooke van Velden has announced a “consultation” on our Health & Safety laws, saying this :Our health and safety culture can be summed up by the sea of orange road cones that have taken over the country. From Santa parades to property development, you can’t get a lot done without having to set up a barricade of cones.”And. Betcha she won’t meet with unions, or workers, or visit a meat works, or forestry, or a mine, or a construction site. She certainly never went near Pike River Mine where the memories, tragedies and unresolved issues still remain – and which gave rise to our current Health & Safety law. We all know the government is a disgrace, but putting this privileged woman in charge of health & safety, when she has never been out of a well-paid office makes me sick.

Among Queenstown’s unsung sports heroes is a world record-holding powerlifter who flew off this week to his fifth world champs. At last year’s champs he set a squat world record and also the deadlift one, but that latter record was broken by another competitor about five minutes later. He then broke his own squat record at a competition in London in February, lifting 288.5kg, and reclaimed the deadlift record which this time he held for about a month. He’s been nominated or seeded third — ‘‘one of the people I’m up against is the top-ranked powerlifter of all time’’. Since taking up the sport he’s trained six days a week — currently in his garage — and between one and two and a-half hours each session.

Activity picked up a bit at the latest auctions after being on the quiet side the previous week. Interest.co.nz monitored the auctions of 301 residential properties over the week of 8-14 June, up from 255 the previous week. However while more properties were on offer, the sales rate barely moved. With 99 of the auctioned properties selling under the hammer, that gives an overall sales rate of 34% for the week. Details of the individual properties offered at all of the auctions monitored by interest.co.nz, including the prices of those that sold, are available on our Residential Auction Results page.

Drone footage shows the native bush at Waikaraka, at risk from roaming cattleOccupied by an ever-increasing number of wild cattle, bush-clad land at Waikaraka is being foraged and destroyed by Waikaraka. Drone footage / Shannon Pitman

New Zealand passport holders can soon visit China on holiday without a visa. Photo / 123rfNew Zealand passport holders can soon visit China on holiday without a visa. Photo / 123rfKiwi travellers eager to visit China can cross “get a visa” off their pre-trip to-do list following a meeting between Chinese Premier Li Qiang and New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon. “China is ready to discuss with New Zealand to introduce more measures to facilitate two-way travel, and China has extended unilateral visa-free treatment to New Zealand.”Previously, only 11 European countries and Malaysia have had the privilege of visa-free travel to China. Photo / 123rfThe announcement will save future travellers around $140, which was how much a single-entry tourist visa for New Zealand passport holders was.

Statistics New Zealand says food prices have had their smallest increase since September 2018. Food prices rose 0.2% in the 12 months to May, with the lower food price inflation driven by cheaper prices for fruit, vegetable, meat, poultry, and fish. Broader food groups like restaurant meals and ready-to-eat food prices were up 4.8% in the last 12 months, while grocery food prices edged up 1.3% and non-alcoholic beverage prices rose 2.7% in the same period. “Of all the items in the food basket, cheaper cheese prices had the largest impact on overall food prices,” Mitchell said. Because of the weaker food prices data, Westpac economists said they had revised its CPI expectations from 0.8% in June to 0.6%.

Northland had the highest NEET rate, at 16.3 percent of people aged 15 to 24, followed by Bay of Plenty, at 16.2 percent. He said NEET rate increases often foreshadowed other employment changes. He said more should be done to help NEET young people. For teenagers specifically, employment rates and average hours worked were the highest on record in the late 1980s, Stats NZ said. "Employment rates for teenagers from 2022 to 2024 rose from the previous decade, but average hours per employed youth remained low.

By weaponising the Public Service against the Māori Party over the Manurewa Marae allegations, Luxon has doubled down on what is already a deeply anti-Māori agenda. Prime Minister Chris Luxon is manufacturing a brown smokescreen because hard to reach Māori family might have received a KFC voucher they weren’t entitled to! This all from a Government who awarded Bill English $500 000 over a text message to condemn State Housing while promoting his daughters company as the solution, but it’s da Māoris that need scrutiny! What’s more damaging to NZ Democracy? If only Prime Minister Luxon was so demanding of scrutiny of his own use of power as he is of the Māori Party.

A neighbor's security camera revealed that in the five minutes Chada had been inside his cafe, someone came and stole his truck. Along with filing a complaint with the police, he posted about the stolen truck on the cafe's social media, including an image from the security footage of the man who stole it. Cafe owner’s stolen truck returned with sorry note, toys for son, via @nzherald https://t.co/pso0yo1aN0 — ZeeOneCloudWatcher (@ZeeOneNZ) November 25, 2023Chada was stunned and immediately informed the police. Whoever took the truck left some new toys for Chada's son in the truck and also felt obligated to leave an apology note. It was exactly where I'd parked it, and I walked up to the window, and there was a note inside it."

Retirement village company Ryman Healthcare has been a financial disaster. Video / Carson BluckAs one of the worst-performing stocks of the year and the fury of financial analysts for many more, Ryman Healthcare has been a financial disaster, its executive chairman Dean Hamilton admits. “Yeah, I think the financial performance has slowly deteriorated,” he told Markets with Madison. “Never waste an opportunity, Madison!”Watch Dean Hamilton discuss his plan to rescue Ryman and restore investor faith in the retirement village operator in today’s episode of Markets with Madison above. Madison Reidy is host and executive producer of the NZ Herald’s investment show Markets with Madison.

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Although they still rose, international container freight rates were up 'only' +2% last week from the week before and seem to have topped out now. The China 10 year bond rate is unchanged as usual at 2.32%. The Kiwi dollar starts today -20 bps softer at just under 61.7 USc. Against the Aussie we are +20 bps firmer at 93 AUc. That all means our TWI-5 starts today little-changed at just under 71.2.