New Zealand's economy probably slowed from its surprisingly robust first-quarter pace in the second three months of 2011 as construction stayed weak and manufacturing continued to tread water.

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.

New Zealand lifted spending on credit and debit card transactions marginally last month.

The Dow has plummeted 4.4 percent overnight, dropping below the 11,000 level for the first time since November, as markets continued a global sell-off. It comes as Standard and Poor's warns New Zealand is among the countries that could suffer...

It's official. We now know that John Key and Alan Bollard secretly love our high dollar.

The New Zealand dollar fell against the greenback ahead of the Reserve Bank's official cash rate announcement this morning.

Balancing tax and spending is not a task we can afford to cede to appointed experts...

Economic data is reading a little bit like the zombie apocalypse at the moment: the dollar hit an all-time high this week while inflation is the highest it has been in 21 years.

New Zealand's economy kicked off 2011 with a bang, growing at twice the forecast pace and the fastest since December 2009 as a resurgent manufacturing sector drove the nation's revival in the face of Canterbury's earthquakes.