Halloween is likely to be a lot less spooky than it appeared to be mere days ago with October set to close as the best performing month for Wall Street in decades.

Slowly, but surely, Alan Bollard and the New Zealand economy are turning Japanese.

The Reserve Bank has this morning left the Official Cash Rate unchanged at a record low 2.5 per cent. The move was widely anticipated, with this week's inflation numbers coming in lower than predicted.

New Zealand needs to avoid a costly regulatory over-reaction to the Christchurch earthquakes, says Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard.

Anyone hoping for a weekend fix to the global banking sector will have to wait a little longer - perhaps a lot longer.

Now the dust has settled on 'Double-Downgrade Day', it's worth looking at what it all means.

Greece's sovereign debt woes could end up affecting New Zealand's access to credit and slowing down the country's economic growth, says Alan Bollard.

Finance Minister Bill English said that compared to the pessimism in the United States, the New Zealand was in "pretty good shape."

Bernard Hickey with ten questions about the European debt mess and what it might mean for New Zealand.

Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard is expected to keep the official cash rate unchanged next week while signalling the stimulus of a record-low OCR will be removed sooner rather than later as inflation pressures start to stir.

Stocks in Europe and Italian fixed-income securities were pummelled on concern about the euro zone's debt crisis. The benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 Index ended the day with a 4.1 per cent drop.