New Zealand's largest territorial authority has dramatically reversed its financial position, turning an $88 million loss into a $478 million profit.

Drought is likely to shave 0.5 per cent off gross domestic product by the end of the year and take a toll on next year's output as well, says ANZ bank.

The debate about the financial merits of assets sales is a good one, and based purely on the numbers the benefits are marginal, writes Liam Dann.

Talks between the EU and the US on a free trade deal, joining the world's two largest trading blocs, are scheduled to start in the summer.

The job climate is highly unpredictable, and there are huge issues regarding youth unemployment yet to be addressed. For students or new graduates, there is a strategic approach for all these aspects.

The jobs of 139 health and safety inspectors will be disestablished and staff made to reapply for the positions.

The economy will grow faster this year and next year than we have seen since the recession but the recovery remains brittle, the Institute of Economic Research says.

A Parliamentary committee has recommended a starting wage for youth be passed into law.

For the first time, the BNZ-REINZ Residential Market Survey this month sought 572 real estate agents' views about overseas buyers.

A growing number of people do not have enough money to meet their everyday needs and many are putting off visiting the doctor because it is too expensive.

The Employment Relations Authority has awarded a man more than $16,000 after he was sacked for refusing to do a job which he thought was illegal.

I'm starting to feel guilty about this long decadent Auckland summer. It could just be my grandmother's Presbyterian streak kicking it.

Why are only three per cent of Wall Street's top executives women? Surely there are more female graduates than that coming out of university and wanting a piece of it.

If it ever occurred, writes Andrew King, any existing home owner who previously had less than 70 per cent equity in their home would probably lose it to a mortgagee sale.

Wall St extended losses for a second day amid concern the Federal Reserve's stimulus for the US economy might end sooner than expected.

Towns in New Zealand's regional areas should be made more enticing to slow the mammoth population growth expected in Auckland in the next decade, a sociologist says.

More than half of Auckland's residential land is to be rezoned for apartments and intensification to squeeze in a million extra people by 2040.

The mortgage belt and taxpayers have been the main winners in a $5.7 billion rise in households' collective income.

The G20 group of leading industrial and developing countries was talking tough at the weekend about getting multinational corporations to pay more tax.

The New Zealand government had a smaller than expected first-half operating deficit after Treaty of Waitangi settlement costs didn't eventuate in the period.

As more people upgrade to smartphones there are growing fears that constant availability for work will destroy work-life balance.