/news/business/rss 九一星空无限 Keep up with the latest in business and financial sector news with 九一星空无限talk ZB. Thu, 30 Jan 2025 23:23:13 Z en /news/business/exports-burger-demand-fuels-trade-as-us-overtakes-australia-to-be-new-zealand-s-second-biggest-export-partner/ /news/business/exports-burger-demand-fuels-trade-as-us-overtakes-australia-to-be-new-zealand-s-second-biggest-export-partner/ The United States became New Zealand’s second-largest export market last year, according to new Stats NZ data. And demand for cheap beef to make burger patties was driving much of that. “They’re rebuilding their beef herd in the US so they need more imports,” Westpac senior economist Darren Gibbs said. Cheap New Zealand lean trimmings were sent to the US and turned into burgers. “The US economy has been doing well. I presume on the back of that, burger demand has been rising.” Relative beef shortages worldwide had pushed up some prices, Gibbs added. Meat and edible offal exports to the US were up $87 million from a year earlier, according to new Stats NZ merchandise trade data. ANZ economist Henry Russell said demand for New Zealand meat in China had been sluggish for some time but the US was a different story. “The beef inventory in the US has been in decline for some time.” He said US fast-food chains liked New Zealand beef. The American Farm Bureau Federation last year said the country’s cattle inventory was the smallest since 1951. Trump tariffs The new Stats NZ data emerged soon after Donald Trump started his second term as President, and brought talk of tariffs with him. Russell said it was not yet clear if universal tariffs or targeted tariffs would be applied. He said Trump’s tariff rhetoric was mostly aimed at individual countries such as Mexico and Canada, with whom the US had large trade deficits. US President Donald Trump launched his second term with talk of tariffs. Photo / Getty Images But the US deficit with New Zealand was only NZ$925m last year, Russell said. The economists said if the US placed tariffs on all foreign nations, New Zealand would not lose any competitive advantage. And universal tariffs would largely be paid for by US consumers. But if Australia was spared Trump’s tariffs and New Zealand was not, that would be problematic for Kiwi exporters, Gibbs said. Trade surplus New Zealand in December recorded its first merchandise trade surplus in six months. Goods exports rose by almost $1 billion last month compared to December 2023, to $6.8b. Imports were up too, but only by $404m or 6.5%, to $6.6b. Across the year, exports to the US reached $9b. China was still New Zealand’s biggest export partner. “Although the US is our second largest export partner, New Zealand ranks outside the top 50 countries from which the US purchases goods,” Stas NZ international accounts spokesperson Viki Ward said. The US last year received 12% of all New Zealand’s exports by value. A decade earlier, the US received just 9.4% or $4.7b of New Zealand’s total goods export value. Merchandise exports year-on-year were up across all major markets. Exports to China last month amounted to $342m, up 22% on a year earlier, with dairy products the biggest driver. Exports to the US were up $82m or 11% compared to December 2023, with meat and edible offal exports alone surging by $87m. To Australia, exports were up $64m or 8.7% compared to a year before, with dairy exports having the biggest impact. To the European Union, exports were $110m or 39% more valuable than a year earlier, with dairy and aluminium exports well up. And to Japan, total exports rose by $9.2m or 3.5%. Dairy products and live animal exports to Japan were also up. Thu, 30 Jan 2025 00:32:01 Z /news/business/hapag-lloyd-maersk-alliance-may-lower-freight-rates-but-slow-delivery/ /news/business/hapag-lloyd-maersk-alliance-may-lower-freight-rates-but-slow-delivery/ By Nona Pelletier of RNZ A collaboration between two of the world’s largest shipping companies could drive down sea freight prices, but the length of time for goods to reach their destination may be longer. Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk’s Gemini Cooperation initiative will come into effect on February 1 and cover the ocean freight network on East-West trades. Forsyth Barr head of research Andy Bowley said New Zealand exporters were likely to see more immediate benefits from improved stability in the Red Sea, with increased shipping capacity driving down prices. “If we start to see changes in the services, say, because the Red Sea has become a safer place to transit and go through the Suez Canal, as opposed to around the Cape of Good Hope, you may see some knock-on impacts with more capacity coming into this market and therefore lower shipping rates,” Bowley said. In the meantime, Gemini was targeting an on-time rate of 90%, compared with recent service reliability rankings, with on-time rates of around 55% for Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk. Gemini said in a statement its operator-controlled modern fleet with dedicated teams would deliver a leaner service, with the average number of stops a container made between the origin and final destination decreasing significantly. “With ports being a major source of unreliability, this will reduce the opportunities for disruptions along the way and improve reliability,” it said. Bowley said the alliance could improve shipping service reliability, which had been low post-Covid for all global lines and elevated sea freight rates may subside. However, the changes could result in longer shipping times, he said. “Increased transhipments for cargo to and from New Zealand because of Gemini’s hub-and-spoke strategy could increase delivery times. Even if the services are more reliable, they could take longer,” Bowley said. He said the changes could also have a negative effect on Mainfreight’s air and ocean business. “The prospect of lower sea freight rates, or at least a normalisation of rates, is a negative for Mainfreight (MFT)’s Air and Ocean business,” Bowley said, with high freight rates better for MFT’s bottom line. “It’s the middle man in the transaction. So it doesn’t have aircraft itself. It doesn’t have seafaring vessels. So it’s very much reliant on the rates that it’s able to charge its customers, and what it receives from its suppliers. “In essence it’s able to make more money when rates are higher, typically, than when rates are lower, so it tends to lose out if rates fall to any great extent.” - RNZ Tue, 28 Jan 2025 02:48:55 Z /news/business/which-sectors-in-new-zealand-got-the-biggest-and-smallest-pay-rises-in-2024/ /news/business/which-sectors-in-new-zealand-got-the-biggest-and-smallest-pay-rises-in-2024/ Unemployment rose and wage increases slowed in 2024, with uneven impacts across sectors. Healthcare and social assistance saw the highest pay rise at 7.9%, followed by forestry and mining at 6.2%. Accommodation and food services had the smallest increase at 1.2%, but wages rose 39% since 2019. Last year was a tough one for the labour market, as unemployment rose and wage increases slowed. But the impact was not spread evenly, and some sectors did much better than others when it came to what they were paid. Infometrics chief executive Brad Olsen looked at recent data to determine where the biggest and smallest increases were in 2024. He said healthcare and social assistance were at the top of the increases, with their pay up 7.9% in 2024. “Higher pay rates for the broader health workforce show through in the numbers. Education was up there too, rising 5.7% for the third-largest increase,” he said. “Both of these sectors have seen larger increases due to recent pay agreements in the last two years now coming into action, plus the continued demand for these services.” healthcare and social assistance was at the top of the increases, with their pay up 7.9% in 2024. Photo / 123RF Forestry and mining had the second-largest pay increases last year, at 6.2%, he said. “This industry group is a small one, and part of the reason for the larger percentage increase may have been that lower-earning roles in forestry were lost over the last year Olsen we know there have been job losses in forestry – because of lower commodity prices and weaker export potential.” But accommodation and food services workers had the smallest pay rises in 2024, up 1.2%. “Hospitality and the wider tourism sector saw weaker demand in 2024, and more job losses and business closures, among weaker spending which limited demand for talent in this industry,” Olsen said. “As a result, with more people looking for jobs in this area but fewer jobs going, there wasn’t a lot of pressure for wages to increase. The smaller minimum wage increase also would have factored into less of an increase in 2024, as this sector often has a number of minimum wage workers, and the minimum wage can influence the average wage here a lot more.” Accommodation and food services workers had the smallest pay rises in 2024, up 1.2%. Photo / 123RF While 2024 might not have been a good one for workers in that sector in terms of pay, accommodation and food services had the biggest increase compared to 2019, he said. “Pay rates for accommodation and food services have increased 39% from 2019 levels, driven by the large cumulative increases in the minimum wage over that period.” Professional services had the second-smallest increase in pay in 2024, up 1.7%. “Professional services have also lost jobs throughout 2024, and in particular the cutback in contractor and consulting spend from government, limited the amount of work available in this industry,” Olsen said. “Professional services is also coming off a high base, and higher recent wage growth. Wage growth in professional services peaked at 10.1% pa in September 2022.” Professional services, which had the second-smallest increase in pay in 2024, have also lost jobs throughout the year, "and in particular the cutback in contractor and consulting spend from government limited the amount of work available in this industry,” says Brad Olsen. Photo / 123RF Manufacturing was third-lowest in 2024, up 2.1%. A lot of sectors were still in a hiring freeze so there was little pay movement so far this year, Fortitude group managing director Hayley Pickard said. It was unlikely that would change through the first quarter, she said. “When the next tax year starts we will start to see an uplift. There has been some uptake in job ads but not many, and speaking to clients they are only replacing anyone who has left or leaving at present.” In 2024, the Government sector "saw stagnant pay because of job cuts, cost-cutting measures, and ongoing mandates,” says Robert Walters. Photo / Mark Mitchell Recruitment firm Robert Walters said its survey showed 62% of businesses were likely to get a salary increase this year and 57% of employees were expecting one. “Over the past year, there have been certain industry sectors that have experienced minimal pay growth. The Government sector, for example, saw stagnant pay because of job cuts, cost-cutting measures, and ongoing mandates,” Robert Walters Auckland senior director Oli Sanford-Scutt said. “Similarly, the construction, property, and media sectors have faced stagnant salaries. Professional services, including consulting firms and law firms, also saw little change in compensation. “Last year was a year where we saw a number of restructures followed by a period of consolidation for many businesses resulting in many employees accepting what was offered to them. However, this year, there is a renewed sense of optimism in the market, with growing confidence indicating that pay increases will be a key theme.” Many employees are moving elsewhere for higher salaries or a lower cost of living. There was also a shift towards relocation, Sanford-Scutt said. Many employees were moving elsewhere for higher salaries or a lower cost of living. “Additionally, we are witnessing a notable shift in investment across all sectors, from start-ups to major New Zealand corporations, who are reinvesting in technology to fuel their growth. This reinvestment is driving demand for new skill sets, especially in high-growth areas such as AI, data, and security, which are expected to see continued growth moving forward.” Bridget Clarke, a senior director at Robert Walters in Wellington, said some labour rates in the public sector had fallen by as much as $20 an hour in 2024. “It’s worth noting that we also saw greater rate harmonisation, resulting in more consistent hourly rates across the public sector, with fewer variations. Another trend we observed was that salaries for fixed-term employees have increased as hiring managers seek to attract top talent, often needing to offer higher pay to secure the best candidates.” - RNZ Mon, 27 Jan 2025 00:33:40 Z /news/business/elon-musk-and-wikipedia-founder-in-row-over-how-to-describe-nazi-salute/ /news/business/elon-musk-and-wikipedia-founder-in-row-over-how-to-describe-nazi-salute/ Elon Musk is urging the defunding of Wikipedia after it described his gesture as a Nazi salute. Musk’s actions highlight the contrasting ethos between his X platform and Wikipedia’s commitment to factual neutrality. Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales defended the site’s reliability, emphasising its goal of clear, neutral content. The gesture was controversial enough, but now come the sub-controversies: Elon Musk is trolling Wikipedia and encouraging its defunding after a description of his recent flourish, seen by some as a Hitler salute, appeared on the encyclopaedic website. The fight pits two of the internet’s best-known tech giants against each other – and highlights the starkly different ethos behind Musk’s X social media site and Wikipedia, founded by American entrepreneur Jimmy Wales. Musk, as the majority owner of X, is behind recent easing of content moderation rules, which has allowed for rampant disinformation across his social media platform, while simultaneously positioning himself as President Donald Trump’s right-hand man. While Musk’s animosity towards Wikipedia may focus outwardly on the hand gesture, Wikipedia’s goal of factual neutrality makes it a natural adversary to X, a platform increasingly synonymous with heated culture wars, hate speech and disinformation. Wikipedia and the media at large, which Musk has increasingly criticised, also pose a threat by holding him accountable as he thrusts himself into the centre of US politics. In a December interview with New York magazine’s Intelligencer, Wales said the aim at Wikipedia is for editors to create content that is “clear and acknowledges the different viewpoints out there” even amid “the rise in divisive feelings, partisanship, culture wars, all of that”. Tesla and SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk gestures as he speaks during the inaugural parade inside Capitol One Arena in Washington DC on January 20. Photo / AFP At present, the site is regarded as generally reliable despite being written by a community of volunteers. The dust-up between Musk and Wales began after the billionaire raised eyebrows on Tuesday with his gesticulation at a Trump inauguration event. Thanking a crowd for returning Trump to the White House, Musk tapped the left side of his chest with his right hand and then extended his arm with his palm open. He then turned around to the crowd behind him and did it again. As of today, both Musk’s biographical Wikipedia page as well as the page on the “Nazi salute” mention the episode. Elon Musk calls on supporters to ‘defund’ Wikipedia On Wednesday, Musk reposted what appeared to be part of that Wikipedia entry, although the wording found on Wikipedia as of Tuesday was slightly different. The reposted text read: “In his speech during the second Trump inauguration, Musk twice extended his right arm towards the crowd in an upward angle. The gesture was compared to a Nazi salute or fascist salute. Musk denied any meaning behind the gesture.” Alongside the repost, Musk attacked both Wikipedia and the news media, another favourite target, suggesting that each is a purveyor of disinformation. “Since legacy media propaganda is considered a ‘valid’ source by Wikipedia, it naturally simply becomes an extension of legacy media propaganda!” Musk wrote. He additionally called on his supporters to “defund” Wikipedia. Trolling Musk for his 2022 purchase of X for US$44 billion ($77.6b), Wales shot back that: “I think Elon is unhappy that Wikipedia is not for sale.” Run by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation, Wikipedia is an outlier among today’s internet landscape, dominated by the likes of Google and Meta – instead harking back to the web’s early, idealistic days when the open-source movement harnessed the talents of volunteers to offer free access to tools and knowledge. Wales asked Musk whether there was “anything you consider inaccurate in that description?” and added that it wasn’t propaganda but “fact. Every element of it”. ‘Trying to be clear’ Founded on January 15, 2001, the Wikipedia website started in English but within two months had already launched in German and Swedish. It is now available in hundreds of languages. “I would say the decline of trust in journalism and politics is quite severe, which then, in some cases, translates into people feeling more angry and lost,” Wales told Intelligencer. But among the Wikipedia community, he said, “we just plug away, trying to be neutral, trying to be clear”. After Musk’s 2022 purchase of Twitter, rebranded as X, he gutted trust and safety teams and introduced Community Notes, a crowd-sourced moderation tool that the platform has promoted as the way for users to add context to posts. But researchers say the lowering of the guardrails on X, and the reinstatement of once-banned accounts of known misinformation peddlers, has turned the platform into a haven for misinformation. – Agence France-Presse Thu, 23 Jan 2025 03:46:21 Z /news/business/buyers-have-more-power-in-deep-property-downturn-new-figures-show/ /news/business/buyers-have-more-power-in-deep-property-downturn-new-figures-show/ New Zealand’s housing downturn has been “deep and prolonged”, and has left buyers with much more power in the market, one property research firm says.  Both the Real Estate Institute (REINZ) and CoreLogic released data today.  REINZ stats show sales down 27.4% in December compared to November and up 1.8% from a year earlier.  The national median price dropped 0.6% to $775,000.  The institute’s house price index, which smoothes out the market variations that can affect the median price, was down 1.1% year-on-year.  “It was a relatively quiet December,” chief executive Jen Baird said. “Similar to what we’ve seen for much of the year.”  She said many people stopped work the Friday before Christmas and that sent the property market into early hibernation, too.  “Just the timing of the holidays meant the month was shorter than it even normally is.”  She said buyers lacked urgency for much of 2024, and that showed through in the December numbers.  “They shrugged their shoulders and went on holiday thinking there’ll be all the property still available in January and they were right.”  She said the 30,000 available houses for sale gave buyers a lot of choice and that was keeping prices down.  “Agents are telling us that sellers are seeing interest rates come down and in their heads that means prices are on their way up immediately, with lots of demand for property. But with so many on the market, that’s not the case. The buyer demand equation is not what it was a few years ago.”  Baird said a greater sense of certainty and confidence in terms of the direction of interest rates and the economy should help this year.  “Most people feel the worst is behind us, we’ve seen that with volumes increasing this year. My general sense is we’ll see a slow improvement in sales volumes this year.”  Corelogic data shows prices have fallen by nearly 18% from their post-Covid peak.  The biggest drops have been seen in Wellington and Auckland, down by around 25% and 22% respectively. At the other end of the spectrum, Christchurch is down by “only” 7%.  “In December, the national figure edged down by another 0.2%. That was the ninth fall in the past 10 months, with those drops initially reflecting high mortgage rates, but more recently the weakness of the labour market,” property economist Kelvin Davidson said.  He said while sales volumes had risen gently for around 18 months, they were below normal and had not significantly affected the stock of available listings on the market.  “Total listings on the market remain elevated, up around 25% compared to the five-year average, so buyers certainly have the pricing power.  “Main centres like Auckland, and Wellington in particular, have seen a strong rise in listings in December compared to the same time last year, which has softened price pressures in those regions for several months now.  “It’s not great news for homeowners especially those that purchased around peak levels, but ultimately the downturn conditions are most favourable for recent buyers.”  -RNZ  Tue, 21 Jan 2025 23:40:00 Z /news/business/the-body-shop-nz-placed-into-voluntary-administration/ /news/business/the-body-shop-nz-placed-into-voluntary-administration/ Cosmetic and beauty products retailer Body Shop NZ has been placed in voluntary administration, months after its UK parent did the same.  The business has 16 stores across New Zealand in all the major centres, about 70 permanent employees and its online operations.  Administrators Daniel Stoneman and Neale Jackson of financial advisory firm Calibre Partners have been appointed and said all retail stores would remain open at this stage.  “The Body Shop NZ’s UK parent company was placed into administration in February 2024. Following this, the assets of The Body Shop International were largely sold by the administrators in September 2024. This sale excluded The Body Shop NZ business,” Stoneman and Jackson said.  “A buyer for the business has not been found, leading to the appointment of administrators. We are working closely with the management team to develop a strategy to sell all stock and begin to wind down the business.”  UK revival  The Body Shop’s parent in the UK faced its own issues early last year after it was placed into administration in February 2024.  However, after being sold to a new owner in September 2024, the business has reported a bounce back.  According to the Guardian UK, the business was acquired by a consortium led by British cosmetics tycoon Mike Jatania and his venture capital firm Aurea Group.  That deal included the Body Shop International’s assets, which included its UK stores and control of outposts in Australia and North America for an undisclosed sum, but not the New Zealand business.  Since taking ownership, it has achieved £2m in profit on £28m of sales in the first three months.  Tom Raynel is a multimedia business journalist for the Herald, covering small business and retail.  Tue, 21 Jan 2025 22:47:13 Z /news/business/bnz-cuts-home-loan-fixed-rates/ /news/business/bnz-cuts-home-loan-fixed-rates/ BNZ is cutting some of its home loan rates shortly after other banks did the same.  The changes affect one year, 18 month, and two year fixed rates.  The one year rate drops from 5.79% to 5.59%.  The BNZ 18-month fixed rate reduces from 5.59% to 5.39%.  And the two year rate is changing from 5.59% to 5.29%.  BNZ said the changes were effective today.  It said the relevant rates were for home loans, including its residential owner-occupied and residential investor categories.  Last week, Westpac cut its six-month home loan rate to 5.99%.  It also cut some term deposit rates from five to nine months by 0.10% to 0.15% per annum.  Yesterday, ANZ said it was trimming its mortgage rates to match more attractive rates offered by some of its competitors.  ANZ also cut some of its term deposit and PIE fund rates to pay for the cuts.  ANZ lowered its six-month standard and special fixed mortgage rates by 25 basis points, its one-year rates by 22bps, 18-month rates by 20bps and two-year rates by 15bps.  And ASB last Friday announced it was cutting several interest rates to better align with, if not out-do, some of its competitors.  Some economists expect Stats NZ data due today will show the annual inflation rate remained at 2.2% in the December quarter, if it didn’t inch down to 2.1% - the level forecast by the Reserve Bank in November.  The Reserve Bank’s next decision on the Official Cash Rate is expected on February 19.  Tue, 21 Jan 2025 22:18:04 Z /news/business/media-insider-almost-40-jobs-set-to-be-cut-from-nz-herald-newsroom-as-nzme-proposes-major-shake-up/ /news/business/media-insider-almost-40-jobs-set-to-be-cut-from-nz-herald-newsroom-as-nzme-proposes-major-shake-up/ Almost 40 roles are set to be cut from the NZ Herald, BusinessDesk and 九一星空无限talk ZB news operation in a proposal outlined to staff today – the latest in a series of media industry job losses. The proposed job cuts – a net loss of about 14 reporting and other content generation roles and 24 roles in editorial production – are part of a major reorganisation of the Herald newsroom, the biggest in decade. Herald owner 九一星空无限 – which employs about 300 editorial staff – says it needs to improve profitability of its publishing division, while also reorganising its newsroom to ensure it reflects continually changing audience demands. The proposals include more investment in video news, and a stronger focus on ensuring the newsroom is focused on journalism and other content that resonates with audiences, including subscribers, 九一星空无限 editor-in-chief Murray Kirkness told staff this morning. That also means publishing fewer stories, cutting those that don’t engage with audiences, Kirkness said. 九一星空无限 editor in chief Murray Kirkness. Photo / Michael Craig  Journalists were taken into team meetings following the all-staff meeting to hear how the proposals impacted them directly. It is understood a number have also been invited to 1-1 individual meetings.  The company has said it will consider voluntary redundancies.  NZ Herald – the proposals  The proposed changes at 九一星空无限 impact most of the NZ Herald news operation, across general reporters, sport, business, lifestyle and entertainment, and production.  Production journalists - including copy and layout sub editors and graphic artists – appear to be particularly impacted by the proposals. Staff heard today that new technology, including automation tools, and operational processes would help streamline production.  The proposals include the formation of more than a dozen “desks”, each with specific coverage or operational responsibilities - for example, live news, national, sport, business, politics, and lifestyle. Desks would also be established for Auckland, Wellington and South Island-specific content.  The desks would each be headed by an editor, and have specific targets such as new subscriptions, page views and video views. Each of the desks would be responsible for providing publish-ready material, reducing the reliance on production journalists.  九一星空无限’s Open Justice reporters – a scheme funded by NZ on Air – and regional publications are not in scope for the restructure, although the Open Justice team would form one of the new desks.  Two vacancies in ZB news would not be filled, staff were told today.  A specialist print team would also be established, to reflect the needs of newspaper readers.  The company hopes to have the operational changes in place by mid-March, and production journalist changes in place by April 30.  ‘Challenging’ media market  九一星空无限 chief executive Michael Boggs told staff in an email the media market continued to be “challenging”. “With a strong digital transformation strategy, 九一星空无限 has performed well versus many of our competitors and that’s been due to our ability to adapt, innovate and change quickly when required. Our subscription revenues remain resilient with digital subscriptions growing, but our publishing revenue has declined in the past few years.” 九一星空无限 chief executive Michael Boggs. Photo / Michael Craig  He said the newsroom’s mission remained the same — to deliver trusted, quality journalism.  “We also continue to focus on investing in areas we believe there is significant potential for audience and revenue growth so our publishing and audio news business remains profitable well into the future.”  He said video was fast growing. “There is significant potential for us to grow audiences and revenue in this space.”  He said change could be unsettling for people and the news of the proposals “would have been difficult to hear for some”.  Bleak 12 months for NZ media  Today’s meeting comes in one of the bleakest 12-month periods for New Zealand media, in which hundreds of jobs have been lost across the industry.  Advertising revenue has been dropping for traditional media, especially as the economy has remained depressed.  Kirkness said annual print advertising had fallen by $10 million between 2022 and 2024. Digital advertising was also down in the same period.  The company has been encouraged by its growth in digital subscriptions, but these have not offset the advertising revenue decline. 九一星空无限’s publishing division remains profitable, but the publicly listed company is pushing to improve its bottom line.  In November, 九一星空无限 lowered its guidance on earnings for the 2024 financial year, dropping it to $53 million-$55 million, down from earlier forecasts of $57m-$61m.  For the first half of 2024, advertising revenue for 九一星空无限’s publishing division was $50.1 million, compared with $53.1m for the same six months in 2023. Reader revenue was up from $39.8m to $40.5m in the same period.  九一星空无限 confirmed the closure of 14 community newspaper titles before Christmas, with the loss of almost 30 roles. Five of the titles will live on as independent publications, after they were bought by staff.  Media companies have been urging the Government to even the playing field so that international tech giants pay their fair share for the journalism and other content that help drive their mega profits.  But the Fair Digital 九一星空无限 Bargaining Bill has been placed on hold for now, while the Government observes how planned new legislation in Australia plays out.  Also among the hundreds of media job losses have been cutbacks at Warner Bros Discovery, TVNZ, Stuff, MediaWorks and The Spinoff.  The axing of 九一星空无限hub and cutbacks in other divisions of Warner Bros Discovery saw the loss of almost 300 jobs.  TVNZ staffing has fallen from about 735 in 2023 to fewer than 600 at the start of 2025. This includes job losses with the axing of high-profile shows such as Sunday and Fair Go.  Union’s concerns  Earlier today, E tū union negotiation specialist Michael Wood urged Government to intervene with legislation for the media industry.  “We’ve seen major cuts over the last year at TVNZ to news and current affairs, we’ve seen cutbacks to community news at both 九一星空无限 and Stuff, we’ve seen a number of newsroom restructures at multiple organisations... And now there is the potential of further impacts at 九一星空无限,” Wood told RNZ.  E tū union negotiation specialist Michael Wood. Photo / Alyse Wright  “The totality of that is that fewer stories get told, newsrooms are less able to get out there when something happens, New Zealanders will receive less analysis of the things power people and organisations do, and that makes us weaker as a society and a democracy.  “We think it’s time the Government woke up about this. The last minister for this area was sacked for doing nothing about it, the current minister so far has done nothing about it except for back-pedalling on the Fair Digital 九一星空无限 Bargaining Bill.  “We don’t want the Government running all of the news, but they need to make sure there’s a sustainable news ecosystem.”  Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand’s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at 九一星空无限 including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in 九一星空无限.  Tue, 21 Jan 2025 22:06:32 Z /news/business/inflation-remains-unchanged-at-22/ /news/business/inflation-remains-unchanged-at-22/ The largest contributor to the annual inflation rate was rent, up 4.2%, according to Stats NZ figures released today.  Almost a fifth of the 2.2% annual increase in the CPI was due to rent prices.  New Zealand’s consumers price index (CPI) increased by 2.2% in the December 2024 quarter, compared with the December 2023 quarter.  This was roughly in line with economists’ expectations.  The CPI rose by 0.5% in the December 2024 quarter, compared with the September 2024 quarter.  Prices for international air transport, up 6.6%, were the largest contributor to the quarterly rise. Almost a quarter of the 0.5% quarterly rise in the CPI was due to international air transport.  Other significant contributors to CPI this quarter were:  Second-hand cars – up 4.7% (19% contribution to the 0.5% rise);  Rent – up 0.8% (15% contribution);  Games, toys, and hobbies – up 8.5% (13% contribution);  Domestic air transport – up 9.3% (12% contribution)  Overseas accommodation – up 2.4% (11% contribution).  Lower prices for vegetables, down 11.5%, helped offset the quarterly rise.  “Seasonal falls for salad veggies like tomatoes, cucumbers, and capsicums contributed to the quarterly fall in vegetable prices,” prices and deflators spokesperson Nicola Growden said.  The 2.2% annual increase follows a 2.2% annual increase in the September 2024 quarter.  “This is the second consecutive quarter that the annual inflation rate has been within the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s target band of 1 to 3%,” Growden said.  “Prices are still rising, but not as much as previously recorded. The most recent peak was in the June 2022 quarter when the annual inflation rate reached 7.3%.”  Between the June 2021 and June 2024 quarters annual inflation was above the target band.  “Annual rent inflation continues to grow at a consistent rate. Between the December 2023 and 2024 quarters, annual rent inflation ranged between 4.2% and 4.8%,” Growden said.  Local authority rates and payments increased by 12.2% in the 12 months to the December 2024 quarter (16% contribution to the 2.2% increase).  Cigarettes and tobacco prices also increased, up 7.6% in the 12 months to the December 2024 quarter (11% contribution to the 2.2% increase).  This increase was mainly due to the annual tobacco excise tax increase on January 1 2024.  Lower petrol prices, down 9.2%, helped offset rising prices. This included the removal of the Auckland regional fuel tax of 10 cents per litre plus GST on June 30, 2024.  “Petrol makes up about 4% of the CPI basket. Its price fall made a significant contribution to the slower increase in the annual inflation rate in December 2024,” Growden said.  Between the December 2023 and December 2024 quarters, the weighted average price of 1 litre of 91 octane petrol fell 26 cents from $2.81 to $2.55.  “If petrol was excluded, the CPI would have increased 2.7% in the 12 months to December 2024.”  Liam Dann is business editor-at-large for the New Zealand Herald. He is a senior writer and columnist, and also presents and produces videos and podcasts. He joined the Herald in 2003. Tue, 21 Jan 2025 21:50:46 Z /news/business/tech-billionaires-take-centre-stage-at-trump-inauguration/ /news/business/tech-billionaires-take-centre-stage-at-trump-inauguration/ US tech multibillionaires including Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos were given prime positions at Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday, in an unprecedented demonstration of their power and influence. Musk, Bezos and Zuckerberg are the world’s three richest people, and in addition to Google co-founder Sergey Brin, who also attended, their combined fortune sits at just above one trillion US dollars (NZ$1.76t), according to Forbes. The tech tycoons have spent the weeks since the election courting favour with Trump, marking a dramatic shift from Silicon Valley’s more hostile response to his first term four years ago. Google CEO Sundar Pichai (C, L) and SpaceX, X and Tesla CEO Elon Musk watch during the inauguration. Photo / Julia Demaree Nikhinson, Pool, AFP Attendees also included Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai. TikTok CEO Shou Chew sat in the back row of the stage, even as his platform’s future remains uncertain. TikTok on Sunday credited Trump for promising an executive order to save the app from an American ban, though its fate in the United States remains unclear while under Chinese company ByteDance’s ownership, in defiance of a US law. Despite highly limited seating after the ceremony was moved indoors due to bad weather, Meta CEO Zuckerberg attended with his wife Priscilla Chan, while Amazon executive chairman Bezos was accompanied by his fiancee, Lauren Sanchez. “They have even better seats than Trump’s own cabinet picks. That says it all,” said US Senator Elizabeth Warren in a social media post. Their prominent positions on the inauguration stage was particularly notable for Zuckerberg, whom Trump had threatened with life imprisonment just months ago. The Meta chief recently made headlines by brashly aligning his company’s policies with Trump’s worldview, notably by eliminating fact-checking in the United States and relaxing hate speech restrictions on Facebook and Instagram. Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk gestures as he speaks during the inaugural parade inside Capitol One Arena. The Anti-Defamation League said Musk 'made an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm' and it was 'not a Nazi salute'. Photo / Angela Weiss, AFP Musk has shown the strongest support for Trump, spending $277 million (NZ$487m) to help him and other Republicans win November’s election while transforming his X platform into an amplifier for pro-Trump voices. Bezos, like Zuckerberg and his peers, has visited Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida leading up to the inauguration, with favorable treatment, government contracts and reduced regulatory scrutiny for Amazon in the balance. As owner of The Washington Post, Bezos sparked controversy by blocking the newspaper’s planned endorsement of Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris for the 2024 presidential election, triggering newsroom protests and subscriber cancellations. Musk has been named a leader of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency to advise the White House on cutbacks to public spending and has spent much of the past two months at Mar-a-Lago. ‘Paid access’ While Musk’s SpaceX is already a major government contractor, Amazon’s AWS cloud computing division and Google also count the US government among their biggest clients. Google, Meta, Apple, and Amazon are also fighting landmark antitrust lawsuits from the US government that could force their breakup. “These are very wealthy people who have basically paid for access, which is something that they would do for any upcoming administration even if we all recognise Trump is very transactional,” said Andrew Selepak, media professor at the University of Florida. “They’re making sure it’s very clear that their faces, names, and especially their money, is here,” he added. © Agence France-Presse Tue, 21 Jan 2025 00:32:29 Z /news/business/rise-in-holiday-spending-at-end-of-2024-electronic-card-data-shows/ /news/business/rise-in-holiday-spending-at-end-of-2024-electronic-card-data-shows/ Kiwis spent more in the final month of 2024 in positive news for retailers who were relying on it to meet their end-of-year targets, Stats NZ data has revealed.  Spending in retail industries in December 2024 increased by 2% ($130 million) compared with November.  Spending in core retail industries rose by 1.8% ($103m).  The largest spending growth in December was in the fuel category, likely due to seasonal factors, which grew by 3.8% ($19m).  Kiwis also spent more on apparel and durables, where spending grew by 3.1% ($10m) and 3.7% ($57m) respectively.  Hospitality spending in December grew by 1% or $12m compared with November, while spending on consumables increased by $36m (1.4%).  The only category with a spending decline was motor vehicles (also likely seasonal), which fell by $2.4 million (1.3%) compared with November.  Services, including repair and maintenance, personal care, funeral and other personal services, reported spending growth of 2% ($7.4m).  Spending in the non-retail (excluding services) category also increased in December, up by 1% ($22m) compared with November.  That category included medical and other healthcare spending, travel and tour arrangements, postal and courier delivery, and other non-retail industries.  The total value of electronic card spending, including the two non-retail categories (services and other non-retail), was up by $139m (1.5%) compared with November.  In actual terms, cardholders made 183 million transactions across all industries in December 2024, with an average value of $58 per transaction.  The total amount spent using electronic cards was $11 billion.  December quarter  Looking at the wider December quarter, spending in the retail industries increased by $203m (1.1%), while in the core retail industries, it grew by $231m (1.3%) compared with the September 2024 quarter.  In good news for the hospitality sector, it reported the biggest growth over the holiday period, with spending increasing by 3.6% or $129m in the December quarter.  Durables and consumables also reported increases, up by 2.2% ($101m) and 0.5% ($40m) respectively.  Spending on apparel also grew in the December quarter, likely as part of holiday sales, up by 2.1% ($20m).  The only categories to report a decline in spending during the December quarter compared to September were motor vehicles and fuel, which fell by 1.4% ($7.7m) and 1.5% ($23m) respectively.  The non-retail (excluding services) category was down $23m (0.3%) compared with the previous quarter, and the services category was up $20m (1.8%).  The total value of electronic card spending in the December quarter, including the two non-retail categories (services and other non-retail), increased by $193m (0.7%) compared with the September 2024 quarter.  Tom Raynel is a multimedia business journalist for the Herald, covering small business and retail.  Mon, 20 Jan 2025 22:52:48 Z /news/business/former-agent-launches-yelsa-to-cut-real-estate-marketing-costs/ /news/business/former-agent-launches-yelsa-to-cut-real-estate-marketing-costs/ Mike Harvey says he walked away from earning $500,000 a year as a real estate salesman in Nelson because he realised there were major problems with the way the industry operated.  It was 2018, and his infant daughter was seriously unwell in hospital in Christchurch.  “I was trying to run a real estate business, you know, we had a really successful real estate business. I had my one-and-a-half-year-old in Ronald McDonald house… I’m flying back to Nelson to do open homes in the weekend.  “And I’m like ‘I’m over this’. So I fly back to Nelson, and I get to a street called George St. I pull into George St and there’s two new signs up around the house [that he had listed for sale]. Now, all the houses are the same. They’re all built in 1960s… it’s just how well they’ve been looked after… but there’s no difference really.  “I saw that there’s been $1000 spent on each sign, so that’s $3000 on signs. There’s $3000 on full pages in the paper, then there’s the internet, $1000 each… There’s probably $10,000 spent in that street to attract buyers.  “And 11 buyers came and they went to all three properties. No one else came. And I sat there and I thought ‘you know what? What a waste of freaking money’… that was 2018 and everything was just selling so we got multiple offers, and [all three] properties on the street sold.”  The next week, someone else with a house on the street rang and said she was looking to sell.  “I said, ‘I’ll be honest with you, my daughter’s really unwell, I don’t want the opposition to get money from you, it just builds their business.  “So what I’m going to do, if it’s okay with you, is, I’ll just send you the open home register from last week. It’s got, you know, 11 people who came to that street. There was $10,000 with the marketing. Three of them are purchased… I’ll send you the other eight.”  After checking the buyers did not mind, he sent their details.  “She came back to me a week later and said, I sold it to one of them.”  He said from that point it became hard to take money for advertising from vendors knowing that their likely buyer was probably already on a list of people who had been to a recent open home.  That led to the development of Yelsa Connect, a platform that matches buyers and sellers.  “We’ve created a marketplace for people that own homes to browse buyers, so they can bring more qualified buyers.  “They don’t have to do all of that expensive marketing, which actually just feeds into the real estate agent’s profile.  “I was a real estate agent for 20 years, and, you know, very, very successful, actually… I left a half-million dollar income or something like that, to build this, because I saw it’s the future, direct connections.  “Every vendor is not looking for open homes. Every vendor is not looking for photographs or signboards or any of those things. Every vendor is just looking for a buyer.”  Vendors can use the platform to find buyers who are looking for their type of property and then engage a real estate salesperson listed with Yelsa to connect the deal.  “You see you got five buyers … you go to the agent directory, and you invite me, and you might invite three other agents, and we all come around to your house and do an appraisal, just like normal, and we tell you what our prices are, and we tell you whatever we do, and we say, like, if we don’t sell to these buyers, we’ll list it and do this and that next thing. To unlock the buyers, you have to choose one of those agents and sign the listing authority with them, because then they’re legally representing you.  “We’ve got agents now that are running matches in Auckland and getting matches of buyers before they advertise their property. We’ve actually had sales…This is the future of real estate globally.”  For buyers, it meant suitable listings were delivered to them and they did not miss out on a house that would be a good fit, he said.  Agents pay $99 a month to be listed on the site. When a deal happens there is a $1000 success fee, of which $750 goes to the mortgage broker who supplied the buyers to the site. Another $100 goes to the Heart Foundation and $159 to Yelsa.  Harvey has been working on the idea for five years but got a boost when Squirrel Mortgages took an interest - and a share in the business - and started to offer its preapproved borrowers the option of being listed on the platform.  There are currently about 100 preapproved buyers on the site.  “It’s really starting to feel like it’s really getting some wheels. You know, it needs to. My wife really struggled. Five years of me not working. When [Squirrel founder] John Bolton put his first buyers on last week. She just sat there and cried for about two hours, just in relief, because we just threw everything at it, you know.”  The Real Estate Institute said it would not comment on individual platforms.  -Susan Edmunds, RNZ  Mon, 20 Jan 2025 20:36:20 Z /news/business/tiktok-going-dark-100m-spender-zuru-says-it-s-a-negotiating-tactic/ /news/business/tiktok-going-dark-100m-spender-zuru-says-it-s-a-negotiating-tactic/ On Friday, the US Supreme Court upheld a law that will see TikTok banned on January 19 (Monday January 20 NZT), on national security grounds, if it’s not sold by its Chinese owner ByteDance. ByteDance says TikTok will “go dark” for its US users immediately when the ban takes effect. Users in other countries won’t be affected. President-elect Donald Trump is considering an executive order once in office that would suspend enforcement of the TikTok ban-or-sale law for 60 to 90 days. One of TikTok’s largest advertisers is based in Auckland - and it says it’s relatively unconcerned about the TikTok ban, which it sees as likely to be over-turned by President-elect Donald Trump. “Trump will likely look to negotiate a deal that keeps TikTok operational in the US,” Zuru’s global head of digital Rob Thomas told the Herald. “While the threat of going dark is significant, it is likely to be a negotiation tactic as they push to enter productive discussions with the Trump administration,” Thomas said. Trump, who will take office on January 20, said on Saturday that he’s considering an executive order to delay the ban for 60 to 90 days to give time to negotiate with ByteDance. That could still leave TikTok’s 170 million American users without access to the app for at least 24 hours. ByteDance said on Saturday that its app would immediately “go dark” in the US as the ban took effect on January 19 (Monday January 20 NZT), catching pundits on the hop. Pro-TikTok protestors outside the Supreme Court last week. The app claims 170m users in the US. Photo / Getty Images Experts had been saying that although the sale or ban law would see TikTok disappear from Apple and Google’s app stores (or see the pair face heavy penalties), it would still be operational on American users’ phones for several months until the lack of updates made it buggy and unstable and, eventually, not able to work at all. Trump could now be positioning himself as a white knight. After the drama of TikTok going offline for Americans, he could save the day by brokering a sale - the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg have reported that Chinese officials have entered talks with Elon Musk as a possible buyer. Whatever happens in the US, TikTok will remain accessible as usual for its users in New Zealand and other countries. The Herald understands Zuru spends around $100 million on media each year. “The majority of our global media spend in 2025 is forecasted to be in digital channels, over half of which will be in the US. TikTok has been one of our key digital channels to-date, due to our ability to connect with younger audiences on there in a creative and innovative way,” Thomas said. Zuru had been expecting the Supreme Court to uphold the ban after both conservative and liberal Justices asked tough questions at a hearing earlier this month. “Are we supposed to ignore the fact that the ultimate parent is, in fact, subject to doing intelligence work for the Chinese Government?” asked Chief Justice John Roberts, a Republican appointee. TikTok chief executive Shou Zi Chew at a US Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in January 2024. Photo / AFP Thomas would not be drawn on where Zuru would reallocate its spending if Trump was unable to negotiate a solution. Agencies that manage US influencers have been encouraging them to diversify their presence with accounts on Instagram and YouTube too, while two upstart Chinese apps that look a lot like TikTok - RedNote and Lemon8 - have been rapid growing in popularity with content creators. “Our position is to not make knee-jerk reactions. There is a lot of speculation as to what the impact of the ruling will be, but nothing has been confirmed. We will always focus our advertising and media investment on the platforms where our Gen Z and Millennial customers are,” he said. “We will closely monitor the behaviour of our customers and the platforms where they are consuming content. Our strength comes from our ability to be agile and move at speed based on cultural trends.” Zuru’s operations include toys, consumer products and content. Owners Nick and Mat Mowbray topped NBR’s 2024 rich list with an estimated worth of $20 billion. TikTok CEO to be inauguration guest of honour Last week, Trump cemented conversion to a pro-TikTok stance by inviting the apps chief executive Shou Chew to be a guest of honour at his inauguration. It wasn’t always like that. In August 2020, during the final months of his first term, Trump signed an executive order to ban TikTok undless it was divested by ByteDance. Trump’s executive order said: “TikTok automatically captures vast swaths of information from its users, including Internet and other network activity information such as location data and browsing and search histories. This data collection threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information — potentially allowing China to track the locations of Federal employees and contractors, build dossiers of personal information for blackmail, and conduct corporate espionage. “TikTok also reportedly censors content that the Chinese Communist Party deems politically sensitive, such as content concerning protests in Hong Kong and China’s treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities. “This mobile application may also be used for disinformation campaigns that benefit the Chinese Communist Party, such as when TikTok videos spread debunked conspiracy theories about the origins of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus. “These risks are real. The Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration, and the United States Armed Forces have already banned the use of TikTok on Federal Government phones. The Government of India recently banned the use of TikTok.” ByteDance said it operates independently from the Chinese Government and has taken steps to ensure Americans’ privacy, such as hosting its US service at data centres owned by Larry Ellison’s Oracle in Texas. It was able to tie up the executive order in legal appeals until Trump was voted out of office. Trump subsequently became a fan of the platform, which was used heavily by his allies and supporters during the presidential campaign. The Harris campaign also had a high-rotate TikTok account. There has also been a shift in the background commercial landscape. Billionaire Wall St financier and Republican “mega-donor” Jeff Yass is an investor in both ByteDance and Trump Media & Technology, owner of the ex-President’s Truth Social platform. The New York Times reported that Yass had recruited a number of ex-Trump staffers to lobby against a TikTok ban. Trump said his position had not been influenced by Yass. New Zealand’s Parliamentary Service joined its counterparts in Canada and Australia in banning TikTok on MPs’ phones in 2023 – a ban that is still in place, even if our Prime Minister and many of his colleagues on both sides of the House remain enthusiastic users of the platform on personal devices, or at least those run by social media managers outside Beehive systems. A bipartisan drubbing On March 7 last year, a bipartisan group of US lawmakers received a closed-door security briefing on TikTok. Whatever those members of the Energy and Commerce Committee saw (which was never made public) was sufficiently disturbing that they voted 50-0 to fast-track legislation that would force ByteDance to sell the app by January 19, 2025 or face a ban. Republicans and Democrats duly banded together in a rare display of unity to pass the measure through Congress (the Senate vote was 79 to 18, the House of Representatives 360 to 58). It was then signed into law by President Joe Biden and upheld by the Supreme Court with its January 17 ruling. Chris Keall is an Auckland-based member of the Herald’s business team. He joined the Herald in 2018 and is the technology editor and a senior business writer. Sat, 18 Jan 2025 20:39:27 Z /news/business/us-supreme-court-upholds-tiktok-ban-or-sale-law-set-to-start-sunday/ /news/business/us-supreme-court-upholds-tiktok-ban-or-sale-law-set-to-start-sunday/ The Supreme Court has upheld a law passed by Congress that will see TikTok banned in the US on January 19 if the app is not sold by its Chinese owner, Byte Dance before the deadline.  Congress passed the law after Republican and Democratic lawmakers were overwhelmingly convinced by evidence (not made public) that the app constituted a national security threat.  According to a Wall Street Journal report, Chinese officials are in talks for a possible last-minute sale to Elon Musk.  TikTok will disappear from US app stores but still work on its users’ phones for several months until the lack of updates makes it buggy and unstable - and it eventually stops working altogether. Kiwi users will continue to have full access.  The Supreme Court on Friday (today NZT) refused to block a federal law that would effectively ban TikTok in the United States as early as this weekend if the wildly popular video-sharing app does not divest from Chinese ownership.  The justices’ order was a blow for TikTok, prohibiting its operation in the lead-up to Monday’s inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, who has promised to “save” the app.  Trump had asked the Supreme Court to delay implementation of the law to give him an opportunity to act once he returns to the White House. With the court declining that option and no sale of the app seemingly imminent, the ban is now poised to take effect on the eve of Trump’s inauguration.  The ban-or-sale law was passed in April with bipartisan support and signed by President Joe Biden in response to national security concerns about the Chinese Government’s potential influence over the platform.  With the Sunday (Monday NZT) deadline quickly approaching, the Supreme Court scheduled a special session last week to hear a First Amendment challenge from the company and TikTok creators.  They said the US Government’s national security concerns do not justify an unprecedented, sweeping restriction on the free speech of 170 million Americans who use the app for news, entertainment, and self-expression.  At oral argument, a majority of justices appeared inclined to uphold the law, which requires TikTok’s China-based parent company, ByteDance, to sell the platform.  They credited Congress’s concern about the Chinese Government covertly using the app to collect vast amounts of sensitive data about millions of American users and potentially exploiting that information to blackmail young Americans or turn them into spies.  “That seems like a huge concern for the future of the country,” said Justice Brett Kavanaugh during the nearly three-hour argument.  Several justices from across the ideological spectrum also emphasised that foreign entities do not have First Amendment rights and that the site could continue to operate in a similar manner but under different, non-Chinese ownership.  While Trump has pledged to rescue the app from the ban-or-sale law, how he plans to do so remains unclear.  The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that the President-elect is exploring unorthodox ways to aid the platform, including issuing an executive order once he takes office that would suspend enforcement of the law for 60 to 90 days. But Trump said earlier this week that until the Supreme Court weighed in, “nobody knows” TikTok’s fate.  A Wall Street Journal report says Chinese officials are in talks over a last-minute sale to Elon Musk. Photo / Getty Images  Still, Trump has repeatedly given TikTok’s allies cause for hope, including inviting the company’s chief executive, Shou Zi Chew, to attend his swearing-in ceremony as an honoured guest.  Chew is also slated to attend at least two other celebrations for Trump ahead of his inauguration, including a reception for the incoming Cabinet and a dinner for incoming Vice-President JD Vance this weekend.  Under the TikTok law, known as the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, app-store giants such as Google and Apple and internet-hosting services could face massive fines if they continue to carry TikTok on their products beyond the deadline for divestment.  Infractions could cost companies $5000 for each user that continues to access TikTok, which could add up to billions of dollars in penalties.  While the law is aimed at forcing app stores and internet hosting services to stop carrying TikTok, executives inside the company have discussed pulling the app offline for US users to highlight how disruptive a ban would be, according to a person familiar with their thinking. The Information first reported on the possibility, but the person familiar with the discussions said no final decision had been made.  TikTok lawyer Noel Francisco said during oral argument that his understanding was the platform would “go dark” if the court did not delay the law and the White House did not delay implementation.  TikTok has not publicly commented on its plans. TikTok employees in the US were sent an email saying the company was “planning for various scenarios” and that its offices would remain open “even if this situation hasn’t been resolved before the January 19 deadline”.  Even a temporary ban could lead to a major user exodus from which it would be difficult for the company to recover, according to TikTok.  Even though the app would likely remain on the devices of users in the event of a ban, it could become inoperable, or their lack of access to updates could degrade their use of the site. TikTok’s website could also cease to function on internet browsers.  This week, ahead of the court’s decision, many users calling themselves “TikTok refugees” began shifting to competing video apps including the Chinese-owned RedNote and ByteDance-owned Lemon8.  ByteDance could still stave off a TikTok ban by selling the app, but the company has insisted it does not plan to do so, and the Chinese Government has said it opposes divestiture.  Still, potential suitors are lining up bids. Chinese officials are reportedly considering allowing Elon Musk, a close Trump ally, to buy TikTok’s US operations, according to Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal. TikTok denies those reports.  Business magnate Frank McCourt and Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary mounted a separate US$20 billion ($36b) bid.  In making their decision, the justices were reviewing a unanimous ruling in December by the US Court of Appeals for the Washington DC Circuit that said the TikTok ban was permissible. A three-judge panel sided with the Biden Administration and said the law does not violate the First Amendment.  The panel, made up of judges appointed by presidents in both parties, said the law does not take aim at a particular viewpoint and is a reasonable response to Congress’ national security concerns.  -Washington Post Sat, 18 Jan 2025 03:40:49 Z /news/business/spacex-catches-starship-booster-again-but-upper-stage-explodes/ /news/business/spacex-catches-starship-booster-again-but-upper-stage-explodes/ Hours after Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin nailed its first-ever orbital mission, SpaceX seized back the spotlight today as its latest test of Starship, its gargantuan next-generation mega-rocket, ended with the upper stage dramatically disintegrating over the Atlantic. In terms of sheer excitement, Elon Musk’s company didn’t disappoint, underscoring its technical prowess by catching the first stage booster in the “chopstick” arms of its launch tower for a second time. But the triumph was short-lived when teams lost contact with the upper-stage vehicle. SpaceX later confirmed it had undergone “rapid unscheduled disassembly”, the company’s euphemism for an explosion. A taller, improved version of the biggest and most powerful launch vehicle ever built blasted off from the company’s Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, at 4:37pm (11.37am NZ time) for its seventh test. The gleaming prototype rocket is key to Musk’s ambitions of colonising Mars, while Nasa hopes to use a modified version as a human lunar lander. Around seven minutes after liftoff, the Super Heavy booster decelerated from supersonic speeds – generating sonic booms – before descending gracefully into the launch tower’s waiting arms, prompting an eruption of applause from ground control teams. Space X’s Starship debris over my sister’s house in Turks and Caicos! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/20lYzsS7SZ— Tom Wardle (@TomWardleMusic) January 16, 2025 The manoeuvre was first successfully executed in October, but not November, when Super Heavy made a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico instead. Soon after the latest booster catch, however, announcers on a live webcast confirmed the upper-stage vehicle had been lost following a propulsion anomaly. The FlightAware tracker showed several planes in the Atlantic altering course near the Turks and Caicos Islands, while users on X shared dramatic footage purportedly capturing the spaceship breaking apart in a fiery cascade during atmospheric re-entry. “Success is uncertain, but entertainment is guaranteed!” Musk wrote on X, sharing one of the clips. He added the cause of the explosion appeared to be an “oxygen/fuel leak” and that the company would take corrective steps. Success is uncertain, but entertainment is guaranteed! ✨ pic.twitter.com/nn3PiP8XwG— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 16, 2025 A Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) spokesperson said the agency “briefly slowed and diverted aircraft around the area where space vehicle debris was falling.” Well wishes Ahead of the SpaceX launch, Blue Origin’s massive New Glenn rocket reached orbital space for the first time, marking a potential turning point in the commercial space race. SpaceX has long dominated orbital launches with its Falcon 9 rocket, securing contracts from private companies, the Pentagon and Nasa. In contrast, Blue Origin had been limited to short-hop suborbital flights with its smaller New Shepard rocket – but could now look to erode SpaceX’s market share. Although the two tech titans have had a contentious past, Musk congratulated Bezos “on reaching orbit on the first attempt” and Bezos returned the goodwill a few hours later. “Good luck today @elonmusk and the whole spacex team!!” the Amazon founder wrote on X. Nasa’s outgoing chief, Bill Nelson, meanwhile offered his congratulations to SpaceX for the booster catch, adding: “Spaceflight is not easy.” For this flight, SpaceX announced it had made numerous upgrades, and increased Starship’s size by a couple of metres to 123m tall. New Glenn stands 98m tall. While its Falcon rockets remain steadfast workhorses, SpaceX has made clear it sees Starship as its future. The first three test flights ended in dramatic explosions, resulting in the loss of vehicles. However, SpaceX has rapidly iterated on its design, reflecting its “fail fast, learn fast” philosophy. Musk is now aiming to drastically ramp up the frequency of tests, requesting permission from the FAA to carry out 25 this year, compared with just four in 2024. The agency is holding public meetings on potential environmental and regulatory concerns, amid accusations that SpaceX has harmed ecologically sensitive areas and violated wastewater regulations. But with Musk now part of United States President-elect Donald Trump’s inner circle, the billionaire may find a smoother path under the incoming administration. Meanwhile, Bezos and fellow tech mogul Mark Zuckerberg are set to attend the President-elect’s inauguration on Monday, signalling warming ties. Fri, 17 Jan 2025 04:41:23 Z /news/business/china-set-to-post-sluggish-growth-as-doldrums-deepen/ /news/business/china-set-to-post-sluggish-growth-as-doldrums-deepen/ China is set today to post some of its weakest growth in decades, as leaders grapple with economic doldrums and nervously eye a potential trade standoff with incoming US President Donald Trump. Beijing in recent months announced its most aggressive support measures in years, battling headwinds that include a prolonged property market debt crisis and sluggish consumer spending. But a survey of analysts by AFP estimated economic growth in the world’s number two economy reached 4.9% last year, down from the 5.2% recorded in 2023. The increase would be the lowest recorded by China since 1990, excluding the financially tumultuous years of the Covid-19 pandemic. That growth could fall to just 4.4% in 2025 and even drop below 4% the following year, the survey showed. China has so far failed to achieve a highly anticipated rebound from the pandemic, with domestic spending remaining mired in a slump and indebted local governments dragging on total growth. In a rare bright spot, official data showed earlier this week that China’s exports reached a historic high last year. But gathering storm clouds over the country’s trade outlook in the year ahead mean Beijing may not be able to count on exports to boost an otherwise lacklustre economy. Trump has promised to unleash biting sanctions on China during a second term due to begin next week, accusing Beijing of unfair trade practices and contributing to a devastating fentanyl crisis in the United States. Beijing has introduced a series of measures in recent months to bolster the economy, including key interest rate cuts, easing local government debt and expanding subsidy programs for household goods. Confidence ‘crisis’ Observers will be closely watching Friday’s data release, which will also include readings covering the final quarter of last year, for signs those measures succeeded in reviving activity. China’s central bank has indicated in recent weeks that 2025 will see it implement further rate cuts, part of a key shift characterised by a “moderately loose” monetary policy stance. But analysts warn more efforts are needed to boost domestic consumption as the outlook for Chinese exports becomes more uncertain. “Monetary policy support alone is unlikely to right the economy,” Harry Murphy Cruise from Moody’s Analytics told AFP. “China is suffering from a crisis of confidence, not one of credit. Families and firms do not have the confidence in the economy to warrant borrowing, regardless of how cheap it is to do so,” he wrote. “To that end, fiscal supports are needed to grease the economy’s wheels.” One component of Beijing’s newest policy toolbox is a subsidy scheme, now expanded to include more household items including rice cookers and microwave ovens, that it hopes will encourage spending. But recent data show government efforts have not yet achieved a full rebound in consumer activity. China narrowly avoided a slip into deflation in December, statistics authorities said last week, with prices rising at their slowest pace in nine months. China emerged from a four-month period of deflation in February, a month after suffering the sharpest fall in prices for 14 years. Deflation can pose a threat to the broader economy as consumers tend to postpone purchases under such conditions, hoping for further reductions. © Agence France-Presse Fri, 17 Jan 2025 02:45:43 Z /news/business/bp-cuts-thousands-of-jobs-to-slash-costs/ /news/business/bp-cuts-thousands-of-jobs-to-slash-costs/ British energy giant BP says it will axe 4700 staff jobs, about 5% of its workforce, and is cutting thousands of contractor roles to reduce costs. The move is part of a “multi-year programme to simplify” the group and improve performance, BP said in a statement. It comes as BP chief executive Murray Auchincloss puts the emphasis on oil and gas to boost profits, scaling back on the group’s key climate targets since taking the helm a year ago. “We have got more we need to do through this year, next year and beyond, but we are making strong progress as we position BP to grow as a simpler, more focused, higher-value company,” he said in an email sent to employees and seen by AFP. On the job cuts, which include more than 3000 contractor roles, he added: “I understand and recognise the uncertainty this brings for everyone whose job may be at risk, and also the effect it can have on colleagues and teams.” BP, which has about 90,000 permanent staff based around the globe, indicated more job reductions were on the horizon. “We expect around 4700 roles to be impacted ... accounting for much of the anticipated reduction in our headcount this year,” the company said. “We are also reducing our contractor numbers by more than 3000, with 2600″ positions having already ended. The company’s share price rose about 1.5% in afternoon deals on London’s top-tier FTSE 100 index, which was trading higher overall. Cost-saving effort Auchincloss, who took the top job after the departure of Bernard Looney, announced last year “at least” US$2 billion ($3.56b) in cost savings by the end of 2026. He said in Thursday’s statement that 30 projects had been stopped or paused since June to focus on the “highest-value opportunities”. The company is looking to boost its share price, which lags behind that of other oil majors, including rivals Shell, ExxonMobil and Chevron. In recent years, BP’s climate targets have been chipped away. It knocked back its emissions reduction plans in 2023, setting a target of a 20-30% reduction by the end of this decade compared with 2019 levels, down from its previous target of 35-40%. It is also set to finalise a deal with the Iraqi government by early February to develop four oilfields in Kirkuk, northern Iraq. BP last month said it would “significantly reduce” investment in renewable energy through to 2030, as it separated out its offshore wind operations into a stand-alone joint venture with Japanese power company Jera. That echoed an announcement by rival Shell that it would no longer develop new offshore wind projects. BP and Shell recently reported falls in their third-quarter profits and are set to announce annual results in the coming weeks. Investors have been speculating for months that BP could abandon its pledge to reduce oil production by 25% by 2030 compared with its 2019 levels. Auchincloss is expected to reveal his new strategy at an investor day in February. © Agence France-Presse Fri, 17 Jan 2025 01:51:59 Z /news/business/asb-cuts-three-key-interest-rates-as-banks-fight-for-mortgages/ /news/business/asb-cuts-three-key-interest-rates-as-banks-fight-for-mortgages/ ASB has cut its 18-month fixed term loan rate to 5.39%, the lowest among major banks.  All major banks now offer fixed term loans with interest rates under 6%.  ASB, Westpac and BNZ’s six-month home loan rates now all at 5.99%, with competition expected to be fierce this year.  Kiwis are seeing interest rates almost in the “4s” again after ASB cut one of its most popular fixed term loans to 5.39%.  The bank revealed changes to three of its most popular rates a day after Westpac cut one of its key rates in a bid to match BNZ.  All major banks now offer a range of key fixed term loans with interest rates under 6%.  ASB’s cuts included reducing its 18-month fixed term to 5.39%, its six-month term to 5.99% and its one-year term to 5.59%.  The bank’s 18-month term is now the lowest offered by any major bank, with only Heartland Bank having a cheaper rate, according to Interest.co.nz.  ASB’s move follows on from Westpac yesterday announcing it was also cutting its six-month special home loan rate to 5.99% per annum as it looked to match the same rate from rival BNZ.  Westpac’s new rates became available to customers from today.  Other six-month special home loan rates include ANZ’s 6.24% p.a., and Kiwibank’s 6.15%.  Sarah Hearn, Westpac NZ general manager of product, sustainability and marketing, yesterday said the bank expected competition to attract home loans would be fierce again this year.  “While some economic uncertainty remains both domestically and overseas, homeowners rolling onto new fixed rates should start to feel the relief of lower repayments as the year goes on,” she said.  The last change to home loan rates was in November after the Reserve Bank cut the official cash rate (OCR) by 50 basis points to 4.25%.  The next monetary policy statement which sets the OCR is scheduled for February 19.  That raises a question among many mortgage holders about fixed term lengths and paying floating rates short term in the hope of cheaper rates after February’s OCR meeting.  Thu, 16 Jan 2025 21:30:58 Z /news/business/how-big-tech-builds-data-centres/ /news/business/how-big-tech-builds-data-centres/ From acquiring land to securing power supply, building data centres globally is a detailed operation. “I seems like it’s effortless and it’s not,” Amazon Web Services vice-president of global data centres Kevin Miller told Markets with Madison in Las Vegas. “There’s a lot of effort every day, adding network capacity, adding data centre capacity, bringing in more servers.” Amazon was one of three hyperscalers, alongside Microsoft and Google, who together held most of the data centre market share globally. They had been building hundreds around the world for almost 20 years, with Microsoft’s centres in New Zealand opening last week and Amazon’s due to open next year. It builds them out in regions – which could be a city or a country. For example, New Zealand is a single region for Microsoft and Amazon. Each region has availability zones within it, which house one or more data centre. The regions were all connected by thousands of miles of fibre optic cable touching more than 20 countries. Data centres could use between two and 60 megawatts of energy annually, and that was always taken from the grid, Miller explained. However, Amazon and other hyperscalers were investing significant amounts into the development of nuclear energy to power their centres internationally. “We see a lot of opportunity with that new nuclear and the next generation of nuclear reactors.” Watch Kevin Miller discuss data centres in-depth in today’s episode of Markets with Madison above. Madison travelled to Las Vegas courtesy of Amazon Web Services. Disclaimer: The information provided in this programme is of a general nature, and is not intended to be personalised financial advice. We encourage you to seek appropriate advice from a qualified professional to suit your individual circumstances. Madison Reidy is host and executive producer of the NZ Herald’s investment show Markets with Madison. She joined the Herald in 2022 after working in investment, and has covered business and economics for television and radio broadcasters. Thu, 16 Jan 2025 04:48:29 Z /news/business/toyota-arm-hino-makes-us-16b-deal-to-settle-emission-fraud-case/ /news/business/toyota-arm-hino-makes-us-16b-deal-to-settle-emission-fraud-case/ United States officials have announced a US$1.6 billion deal with Toyota subsidiary Hino Motors to settle charges it deceived regulators about the amount of emissions spewed by its diesel engines. Hino used altered emissions test data to get approval to import and sell more than 110,000 diesel engines to the US, most of which were installed in heavy-duty trucks made by Hino, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). As part of the deal, Hino will plead guilty to engaging in a criminal conspiracy to mislead regulators and consumers, violating environmental protection laws and endangering public health, US attorney-general Merrick Garland said in a release. US regulators and the state of California, which has strict vehicle emission standards, worked out criminal and civil remedies with Hino valued at more than US$1.6b. “Hino’s actions directly undermined EPA’s program to protect the public from air pollution,” acting EPA administrator Jane Nishida said in a release. The proposed settlement is contingent on approval from a US district court judge in the state of Michigan. “Corporate crimes such as these endanger the health and wellbeing of innocent Americans, as well as the environment in which we all live,” said US attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, Dawn Ison. The deal includes a five-year term of probation, during which Hino will be barred from importing diesel engines it has manufactured into the United States and made to implement a comprehensive compliance and ethics programme, according to the EPA. Hino will also have to recall some trucks with engines violating emissions standards and spend some US$155 million to replace marine and locomotive engines through the US to offset excess air emissions, according to the EPA. – Agence France-Presse Thu, 16 Jan 2025 03:27:18 Z /news/business/westpac-cuts-six-month-home-loan-rate-to-599/ /news/business/westpac-cuts-six-month-home-loan-rate-to-599/ Westpac has trimmed 20 basis points off its six-month special home loan rate, cutting it to 5.99% per annum - a rate matching rival bank BNZ. Its standard six-month home loan rate is falling by the same amount, and will now sit at 6.59% p.a. Westpac is also cutting some term deposit rates from five to nine months by between 0.10% and 0.15% p.a. The new rates which will take effect tomorrow, January 17, will make it the joint-lowest advertised special six-month rate of the five major banks. Westpac also has the joint-lowest advertised one, two, and three-year special rates, and the outright lowest four and five-year special rates. Westpac NZ general manager of product, sustainability and marketing, Sarah Hearn, said the bank was working hard to help customers start 2025 on the right foot. “We expect competition for home lending to be fierce again this year and we’re acting swiftly to ensure we keep offering great value,” Hearn said. “While some economic uncertainty remains both domestically and overseas, homeowners rolling onto new fixed rates should start to feel the relief of lower repayments as the year goes on.” Comparing the other major banks’ six-month special home loan rates, ANZ currently sits at 6.24% p.a., Kiwibank sits at 6.15% p.a., while BNZ is matching Westpac on 5.99% p.a. ASB doesn’t offer a six-month special home loan rate, but its standard six-month rate is sitting at 6.19% p.a. The last change to home loan rates was in November following the Reserve Bank’s decision to cut the official cash rate (OCR) by 50 basis points to 4.25%. The next monetary policy statement which sets the OCR is set to come on February 19. Thu, 16 Jan 2025 02:41:08 Z /news/business/stocks-for-christmas-sharesies-has-record-investing-volume-over-the-quiet-season/ /news/business/stocks-for-christmas-sharesies-has-record-investing-volume-over-the-quiet-season/ Investors traded a record $3.21 billion on the stock trading platform Sharesies in the three months to the end of December - an amount almost double the previous $1.71b quarterly record. Users were increasingly allocating funds to United States share markets, with the Smart US 500 exchange-traded fund (ETF) the most popular investment in the quarter, pushing Air New Zealand to second. More money was allocated as investors generally increased their confidence in the market, according to Sharesies' quarterly index which finished the quarter at 55 - the highest reading for the measure since 2022. Net deposits on the platform were lower on average, compared to the previous quarter, with interest rate cuts potentially leading investors to allocate funds into other assets such as property. Rate cuts also impacted inflows to Sharesies’ save product, although demand for its tax efficient portfolio investment entity save offering increased. Sharesies has 750,000 users investing or saving a total $7.6 billion through its online platform across New Zealand and Australia. Photo / Supplied Investor attraction to individual companies was increasing again as they gained more confidence in the market following the US election, with Tesla, Nvidia, Apple, and Rocket Lab the most popular direct stock holdings. The attraction to Rocket Lab had grown as its share price rose 389% in the past year. The companies that lost the most traction in the full year were Ryman Healthcare, Mainfreight, NZ Windfarms, a2 Milk, ANZ Group, Spark, and Auckland International Airport. Stocks that rose in the ranks during the full year included Palantir, Nvidia, Netflix, Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund, Microsoft, and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare. Popular ETFs in the last quarter of 2024 included Pathfinder’s global responsibility fund, the Smart NZ Top 50 ETF, Vanguard’s 500 index fund and Mercer’s all country global shares index fund. Thu, 16 Jan 2025 01:45:00 Z /news/business/us-bans-imports-from-dozens-of-chinese-firms-over-forced-labour/ /news/business/us-bans-imports-from-dozens-of-chinese-firms-over-forced-labour/ The United States says it is banning imports from dozens of China-based companies over alleged ties to forced labour, targeting firms in the mining, textiles and solar industries. The Department of Homeland Security said it was adding 37 entities to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act entity list, bringing its total to nearly 150. The additions mean goods wholly or partially made by these firms will be restricted from entering the United States. Through the action, “we again demonstrate our relentless fight against the cruelty of forced labour, our unwavering commitment to basic human rights, and our tireless defence of a free, fair and competitive market”, said Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas. The department said this was the “largest single expansion of the list”. The entities added include companies mining and processing critical minerals from Xinjiang, where Beijing has been accused of incarcerating more than one million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in a network of detention facilities. Chinese officials strongly deny these claims. The additions also include companies growing Xinjiang cotton and manufacturing textiles for global export, alongside those producing inputs for solar modules using polysilicon made in the region. The companies affected include Zijin Mining Group and its subsidiaries in Xinjiang, alongside Huafu Fashion and 25 of its subsidiaries. The Department of Homeland Security said entities added have been “linked to forced labour practices”. The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act was signed into law in 2021. – Agence France-Presse Thu, 16 Jan 2025 01:39:38 Z /news/business/food-prices-rise-in-december-driven-by-dairy-fruit-cooking-oil/ /news/business/food-prices-rise-in-december-driven-by-dairy-fruit-cooking-oil/ Food prices rose in December as spikes in the price of butter, standard 2-litre milk, and olive oil pushed grocery prices upwards.  In Stats NZ’s latest Selected Price Index, food prices increased by 1.5% in the 12 months to December 2024, up from a 1.3% rise in November.  Fruit and vegetable prices were up 3.1% compared to November.  Restaurant meals and ready-to-eat food were up 0.1% in the month, for a 3.3% annual increase.  “The price for a 500g block of butter has increased by about 50% since this time last year, with an average price of $6.66,” Stats NZ spokesperson Nicola Growden said.  “The same size block of butter had an average price of $4.48 in December 2023.”  The price of butter has topped $9 for a 500g block in some shops and one analyst is warning prices could stay high for months because of global butter supply shortages.  ANZ agricultural economist Susan Kilsby said butter prices had lifted by 24% over the past year in the global markets.  “Demand for cream [which is used to make butter] does tend to peak over the Christmas holiday period which tightens supply available for butter,” Kilsby said.  Grocery food prices overall did fall monthly by 0.2%, but registered an annual 2.7% price increase.  Meat, poultry and fish prices fell by 0.6%, while non-alcoholic beverages fell by 1.4%, with coffee, tea and hot drink prices increasing by 2.5% in December.  Prices for alcoholic beverages and tobacco fell by 0.6%.  Petrol prices were up 1.5% in December, with diesel also increasing, up 2.6%.  Non-alcoholic drinks and tobacco registered the biggest annual price increases, at 5.1% and 7.5% respectively.  International air transport prices significantly increased in December growing by 29.6%, likely because of the seasonal holiday bump.  In accommodation, the price of domestic services fell by 1.7% in December.  International accommodation services fell by 5.6%.  Rental data has been delayed due to changes within the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment which recently completed upgrades to its tenancy bond-lodgement system.  Tom Raynel is a multimedia business journalist for the Herald, covering small business and retail.  Thu, 16 Jan 2025 00:01:30 Z /news/business/mortgage-calls-when-will-borrowers-see-value-in-long-term-rates-again/ /news/business/mortgage-calls-when-will-borrowers-see-value-in-long-term-rates-again/ By Anan Zaki of RNZ Households are set to make big calls about their mortgages this year, as they weigh up their options amid falling interest rates. Property research company CoreLogic says four out of five borrowers kicked off the new year with either a floating mortgage rate or a fixed term of less than 12 months. For new loans, only 10% were fixed for longer than 12 months, whereas a year ago it was at 51%. The share of new loans on floating rates - which tend to be higher than fixed rates - has risen from about 17% a year ago to 28%. CoreLogic said it was evident in existing loans too, with the share of debt on floating rates up sharply to 14% - the highest level since 2020. Chief property economist Kelvin Davidson said borrowers had been keen to take advantage of falling mortgage rates as the Reserve Bank cut the official cash rate. But he said the most intriguing aspect of the mortgage market this year would be to see when borrowers would again see value in long-term rates. “The answer to that will be a decision for each borrower to make, but there is certainly a sense that most of the Reserve Bank’s eventual full monetary policy easing has already been factored in to some current mortgage rates - or in other words, those longer-term rates might not fall much further,” he said. David Cunningham, chief executive of mortgage broker Squirrel, said it would not take much for longer-term rates to become popular again, currently hovering about the mid-5 and early 6% mark. “In the last 10 or 15 years you’ve had fixed rates generally in a 4 to 5% range so when we see those 2, 3, 4 and 5-year fixed rates below 5%, I think it starts to become a viable option for people,” he said. Cunningham believed some rates could start falling below 5% in the next three months. He said the rise in floating interest rates was a little surprising, but borrowers were happy to take the short-term pain of higher servicing costs for long-term gain. Loan Market mortgage advisor Michelle Isemonger warned of the risks that came with floating interest rates. “There’s always risks that come with floating. Your repayments are going to be higher than what they would be if they were fixed,” she said. But Isemonger said more borrowers were taking the risks. “There’s a lot pointing towards the interest rate coming down, so people are taking that gamble. And it is a gamble because you really justdon’t know what’s going to happen, and the biggest consideration really is that your repayments could go up.” -RNZ Wed, 15 Jan 2025 03:14:37 Z /news/business/elon-musk-sued-over-purchase-of-twitter-shares/ /news/business/elon-musk-sued-over-purchase-of-twitter-shares/ The United States Securities and Exchange Commission has sued Elon Musk, arguing that his purchase of Twitter shares in 2022 was carried out with violations, the regulator said in a filing. “Defendant Elon Musk failed to timely file with the Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC] a beneficial ownership report disclosing his acquisition of more than 5% of the outstanding shares of Twitter’s common stock in March 2022, in violation of the federal securities laws,” the agency said in a court filing. According to the SEC, the omission enabled Musk, the world’s richest man and a close ally of President-elect Donald Trump, to continue purchasing shares at “artificially low prices, allowing him to underpay by at least [US]$150 million [$267.8m] for shares he purchased after his beneficial ownership report was due.” Musk’s role at the social network has been marked by numerous controversies and led to various legal actions on the part of investors, former employees and companies that had contracts with Twitter, now called X. Shareholders, for example, have filed a lawsuit against Musk, accusing him of disclosing his 5% stake in Twitter too late, after the deadline set by the SEC. - Agence France-Presse Wed, 15 Jan 2025 02:04:02 Z /news/business/how-kiwi-finance-students-made-100k-on-the-stock-market-in-five-weeks/ /news/business/how-kiwi-finance-students-made-100k-on-the-stock-market-in-five-weeks/ A trio of finance students at the University of Otago’s Business School technically made a profit of $101,110 from virtual share trading over a five-week period as part of a global competition. Shenjian Li, Mingxuan Yu and Junxiu Lyu invested $1 million of imaginary capital into 55 United States and Canadian listed companies, including BlackRock, Trump Media and Technology Group and an array of finance, technology, commodity and pharmaceutical-related companies. They followed an earnings-based investment strategy, holding no more than five stocks at a time and selling them for a gain or loss after those companies released their financial reports. The total payoff was equal to an annualised return of about 162%, putting them in the top 11% of the Bloomberg market trading challenge in which they competed against more than 2000 teams from universities across 46 countries. “It’s the sort of [investment] performance that professional hedge fund managers would like to obtain in their funds,” Otago Professor Emeritus of finance Timothy Falcon Crack said. The students used the University of Otago’s Bloomberg terminals to research their investments through company earnings reports, financial analyst reports and news articles. Team Otago Alpha, who participated in the Bloomberg Global Trading Challenge are (from left): accounting student Junxiu Lyu, senior lecturer Dr Olena Onishchenko and finance students Shenjian Li and Mingxuan Yu. “Even though it wasn’t real money, we still had to make decisions based on real-world data and could only buy and sell stocks in the Bloomberg Lab,” student Junxiu Lyu said. Their investment returns dropped 10% in the second week of the challenge but they still held their stock positions. “Sometimes I’d wake up in the middle of the night to check [our investments], and one day I saw 15% losses,” student Shenjian Li said. They were the only New Zealand team to enter the competition and beat all the Australian teams. The team, called Otago Alpha, placed 262nd overall among 2453 teams from 383 universities. They were mentored by senior finance lecturer Dr Olena Onishchenko. Wed, 15 Jan 2025 01:32:13 Z /news/business/trump-says-he-will-create-external-revenue-service-for-tariffs/ /news/business/trump-says-he-will-create-external-revenue-service-for-tariffs/ US President-elect Donald Trump says he plans to form an “External Revenue Service” for tariff collection, less than a week before he takes office. This comes as Trump, who posted the statement on social media, has promised sweeping levies on allies and adversaries as he seeks to pressure partners into tackling issues including migration and drug trafficking. Even before his return to the White House, Trump has vowed tariffs on major US trading partners Mexico and Canada, as well as competitor China. He has also floated across-the-board duties on all imports, and steeper rates on Chinese goods. On Tuesday, Trump wrote on Truth Social he would create the new body “to collect our tariffs, duties, and all revenue that come from foreign sources.” He added, referring to the day he takes office: “January 20, 2025, will be the birth date of the External Revenue Service.” The name is a play on the Internal Revenue Service, a bureau under the Treasury Department that administers and enforces US tax laws. While the president-elect has said countries like China would foot the bill on tariffs, tariffs are a tax on imported goods and importers in the United States pay the duties. The economic burden of such levies may also end up being shared with exporters and consumers. In his online post, Trump did not provide further details on how the new department would be formed. Trump on Tuesday also criticised the United States’ past efforts to pursue trade agreements, saying these accords were “soft and pathetically weak.” While Washington had for decades used free-trade pacts to forge relationships around the world, it has more recently shifted away from this stance, including under outgoing President Joe Biden. © Agence France-Presse Wed, 15 Jan 2025 00:28:03 Z /news/business/meta-to-lay-off-3600-employees-in-performance-based-cuts/ /news/business/meta-to-lay-off-3600-employees-in-performance-based-cuts/ Meta plans to dismiss approximately 3600 employees identified as low performers and replace them with new hires, according to an internal memo reported by Bloomberg on Tuesday. The company, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, confirmed to AFP that CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s decision will affect 5% of its workforce. Meta had approximately 72400 employees as of September. “I’ve decided to raise the bar on performance management and move out low-performers faster,” Zuckerberg said. The CEO said the performance-based cuts were intended to ensure that the company had the “strongest talent” and was able to “bring new people in.” Performance-based dismissals are a common practice among major US corporations. Microsoft announced similar cuts last week affecting less than 1% of its workforce, Business Insider reported. The layoffs come amid broader changes at Meta, in advance of Donald Trump returning to the White House on January 20. Zuckerberg has recently aligned more closely with conservative ideas and political figures, including having dinner meetings with Trump and nominating a Republican as Meta’s head of public affairs. Last week, Zuckerberg announced the end of the company’s US fact-checking program that aimed to combat misinformation on its platforms. The program had faced criticism from conservative voices who viewed it as censorship. Under the new system, users will be able to add context to posts, similar to features on X, formerly Twitter, and championed by Elon Musk, the platform’s owner. © Agence France-Presse Wed, 15 Jan 2025 00:25:43 Z /news/business/employment-confidence-rises-but-higher-unemployment-levels-still-expected-to-come/ /news/business/employment-confidence-rises-but-higher-unemployment-levels-still-expected-to-come/ Employment confidence rose slightly in the December quarter, partially due to a rise in perceptions of job availability, although it won’t stop unemployment from rising above the 5% threshold this year. The Westpac-McDermott Miller Employment Confidence Index rose to 91.6 in the December quarter, up 2.4 points from the September quarter at 89.2. A reading below 100 indicates more New Zealanders are pessimistic about the state of the labour market than are optimistic, with confidence still near its lowest levels since the 2020 Covid lockdown. Westpac chief economist Kelly Eckhold said the main driver in the December quarter was an improvement in people’s perceptions about the availability of jobs. “The current opportunities measure lifted from -50 to -44, still very soft compared to history, but this was the first improvement we’ve seen on this measure in over two years,” Eckhold said. The current opportunities measure is closely linked with the unemployment rate, and while Westpac still predicts the unemployment rate will rise above 5% in the near future, the latest reading offers some hope that it won’t rise further. The expected job opportunities measure also rose slightly from -24.9 to -20.7, up by 4.2 points, although this does not necessarily correlate with actual labour market outcomes. Eckhold said the employment confidence survey joins a handful of recent indicators that have pointed to some stabilisation in the jobs market, including the Monthly Employment Indicator which showed a 0.3% increase in jobs filled in November. However, while job advertisements have seemingly bottomed out, the number of ads is at its lowest since 2013 and there is no evidence yet of a pickup in hiring. Westpac chief economist Kelly Eckhold said the current opportunities measure lift was the first improvement seen by this measure in over two years. “Easier monetary policy has helped to boost confidence across some parts of the economy,” Eckhold said. “But realistically, it will take some time for lower interest rates to have their full effect on demand and activity, and perhaps longer still for businesses to find themselves back in the position of needing to expand their workforce.” Looking at the regions, confidence rose in seven areas with particular gains in the major centres including Auckland and Christchurch, while confidence dropped in four areas, including Northland and Waikato. Nelson and the West Coast also reported a strong lift in confidence, though this was driven by earnings growth rather than job availability. The survey had a sample size of 1553 interviews, with a margin for error of the Consumer Confidence Survey a maximum of plus or minus 2.5%, at 95% confidence. Tom Raynel is a multimedia business journalist for the Herald, covering small business and retail. Wed, 15 Jan 2025 00:23:17 Z