With our currency effectively at parity with the Australian dollar and house prices booming everything must be great in the "rockstar" New Zealand economy, right?

Business confidence dipped in ANZ's monthly survey but the expectations of firms about their own activity and their hiring and investment intentions remain strong.

NZIER's shadow monetary policy board thinks the Reserve Bank should leave the official cash rate unchanged at 3.5 per cent tomorrow but sees a cut as the next best option.

The Reserve Bank is expected to keep its official cash rate unchanged at 3.5 per cent on Thursday but in the accompanying statement to shift the guidance needle slightly to the easier side of neutral.

The case for taxing the income of residential property investors is compelling.

A former National MP and author of The Good Lobbyist's Guide, has been getting in ministers' ears, urging them to stop subsidising the loss-making operations of KiwiRail.

A speech by the Reserve Bank's assistant governor and chief economist John McDermott gives support to market expectations that the next move in interest rates is likely to be down.

The survey's index lifted four points from its March level to 129. It has only rarely been higher than this in the past 10 years.

The country had a net gain of 56,275 migrants in the year through March, 75 per cent higher than the 31,914 gain in the year earlier period.

Dame Jenny Shipley wants NZ firms to take advantage of her appointment to the the board of the Boao forum, which has grown to become a major event for world leaders.

New Zealand should take a leaf out of Australia's book in terms of what not to do in the face of a commodities boom, says Paul Bloxham, HSBC's chief economist for Australia and New Zealand.

The seasons in George R.R. Martin's "Game of Thrones" aren't regular or celestial, just like business cycles.

Were it not for the annual increase in the tax on tobacco the consumers price index would have recorded outright deflation for the year to March.

The New Zealand service sector, which makes up about two-thirds of the economy, expanded in March, after a drop in February, led by gains in new orders and stocks/inventories.

The reduced dairy payout and the high Kiwi dollar are being carefully assessed by potential farm buyers, says the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand.

Inflation is down again, with falling petrol prices pushing the consumers price index down 0.3 per cent in the March quarter.

Thousands of property owners are now sitting on million-dollar goldmines thanks to rampant capital gain.

Westpac Group chief executive Brian Hartzer has embarked on a mission to transform the bank into a world-leading service company.

New welfare benefit figures confirm that New Zealand is splitting into two: Auckland and Christchurch, and everywhere else.