There remain too many people in this country - and the Labour Party joined the ranks the other week - in thinking that everything should be free.

To demand "savings" from the country's district health boards is good economics but brave politics.

Travel and home improvement spend helped lift overall retail sales for the December quarter and retailers are increasingly optimistic about future market changes.

Westpac is forecasting a Fonterra farmgate milk price of $4 this season and $4.60 in 2016/17.

Weak dairy prices and a construction slow-down to blame.

Moody's Investors Service is comfortable with its Aaa credit rating on New Zealand with a stable outlook, as it anticipates the impact from lower commodity prices will be offset by strength in areas of the economy such as tourism and education services.

ASB says it's solid but still on alert as Australian banks take a hammering.

Mike Hosking says European bank stocks are taking a pounding at the moment, over fears we may be heading for a Lehman Brothers Part II.

We could see those increasing credit spreads eventually find their way to our shores in the form of higher rates, writes Mark Lister.

Kiwis spending more on dining out helped electronic card spending rise in January.

Mortgage rates for Kiwis could go up amid global concern about credit risk.

INTERACTIVE: Unemployment rates have fallen to the lowest level since recession but not everyone is feeling the benefits.

Putin sell-off likely to be a flop, writes Ben Wright.

The New Zealand dollar fell from a month-high ahead of employment data in the US.

Auckland has been ranked 20th in a survey of cities on the move by global commercial real estate firm JLL.

Taken at face value, the December quarter numbers are evidence that the labour market has tightened, in defiance of the forecasters, writes Brian Fallow. But that has yet to show up in the wages data.

The New Zealand dollar touched a month-high after Reserve Bank governor Graeme Wheeler talked down the chances of another rate cut.

The unemployment rate has unexpectedly fallen to a six year low of 5.3 per cent.

Fonterra's latest farmgate milk price forecast is already under downward pressure after dairy prices fell for the third time in a row at this morning's GlobalDairyTrade auction.

Free study far easier to boast about than secretive trade deal that prioritises multinationals.

There are good reasons to think that the Chinese government still has the capability to control the country's capital account, writes Nick Dravitzki.

When China sneezes, New Zealand catches a cold - so the saying goes, and not without reason.