Inflation dropped below the Reserve Bank's annual 1 to 3 per cent target range in calendar 2014, extinguishing beyond doubt any expectations of an increase in its official cash rate this year and prompting talk that the next move could instead be a cut.

Three more banks have cut interest rates in a fight to attract customers. But are some customers being unfairly stung by refinancing fees?

Unions have rejected a call from Finance Minister Bill English for further restraint in wage increases because of the low-inflation environment.

Auckland Council is targeting its 1400 pensioner housing tenants to help solve its financial squeeze through an average 20 per cent rent increase.

The cost of hiring consultants, or re-hiring experts made redundant and cost-saving cock-ups must tally in the millions, writes Dita de Boni.

Finance Minister Bill English says wage increases, especially in the public sector, may have to be smaller than previously expected with inflation running so low.

Prices continued to improve at this morning’s GlobalDairyTrade auction, the GDT price index gaining 1 per cent since the last sale a fortnight ago.

Chinese equities plunged the most in five years, led by brokerages, after regulatory efforts to rein in record margin lending sparked concern.

Financial markets will this week find whether the Swiss National Bank's fears were well-founded when the European Central Bank announces its plan to revive economic growth.

A natural outcome of a market economy must be inequality of incomes. They are a necessary and desirable outcome, writes Peter Lyons.

Mega-miners BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto are expected to announce more record iron ore production this week despite the commodity's price dive.

A new survey has found Kiwis were more downcast about their job and earnings prospects and security. But the region that's most optimistic may surprise you.

"We've got houses more expensive than LA. How is this possible?" A new survey finds Auckland's surging housing market is pricier than New York, Brisbane and Boston.

Oil advanced after the International Energy Agency lowered forecasts for supplies from outside Opec and an industry report showed US companies had reduced drilling activity.

Keeping up with the progress of the global economy is becoming a fiendishly complex sport, writes Liam Dann.

The price of petrol keeps plunging but the savings are yet to ignite discounts for consumers elsewhere in the economy.

Auckland house values rose at almost twice the rate of the rest of New Zealand, up 9.8 per cent or $68,309 in the last year.

Falling milk powder prices have hit consumers' economic confidence in the key dairy regions of Southland and the Waikato, says Westpac.

Bigger is better? Not when it comes to the price we're putting on selling smaller homes, according to new figures out from Trade Me.

The economics team at BNZ are now suggesting that NZ will see a falling CPI over the next two quarters, with a real possibility of annual deflation as well, writes Mark Lister.

Throughout modern history commercial banks have a nasty habit of periodically stuffing up the wider economy through bad lending, writes Peter Lyons.

As the NZ dollar approaches equality with the Australian dollar, the Bank of New Zealand says those anticipating a so-called "parity party" can hang on to their balloons.