What KiwiSaver really needs is to be left alone by the politicians and allowed to get on with its purpose of helping kiwis save for their retirement.

The New Zealand dollar weakened overnight, weighed down by a rising US dollar and changing expectations for Reserve Bank interest rate rises.

Power of monetary policy to drive global growth is nearing its limit. Further progress depends on government leaders.

Japan's program of monetary stimulus, fiscal stimulus, and structural reforms hasn't created as much growth as proponents hoped it would.

Rising interest rates have yet to dent people's expectations that house prices will continue to rise over the year ahead, especially in Auckland and Canterbury.

ECB reluctance to adopt full-scale quantitative-easing policies is prompting German comparisons with Japan's stagnation over the past 15 years.

House sales fell 13 per cent in July as winter cooled the appetite of house hunters, but the national median price is still up $31,000 from a year earlier.