UPDATED: A2 milk is forecasting earning to triple in 2016 with sales expected to rise faster than forecast.

NZX dairy futures prices are trading at a discount to the physical market in the aftermath of a worse-than-expected GDT auction.

Dairy giant Fonterra cut 523 jobs yesterday - in a bid to cut its payroll bill by up to $60 million a year - on a day of bad news for the economy.

Hundreds of Fonterra employees and thousands of its farmer-shareholders have been dealt the twin blows of impending job losses and the prospect of a much lower farmgate milk price.

The New Zealand dollar dropped to a six-year low after a surprisingly sharp slump in dairy prices fuelled concerns about the broader economy.

Chief Theo Spierings admits news unsettling for staff as co-op tries to reduce its payroll bill by up to $60m a year.

Liam Dann says axing 523 jobs may make financial sense to Fonterra's chiefs but the dairy slump is bigger than that.

Fonterra's board will consider its current farm gate milk price forecast for 2015/6 at its next meeting on August 7, a spokesman for the co-operative said.

Farmer sentiment has been dented by a slump in dairy prices and conditions which saw more stock sent to slaughter earlier.

In submissions to the Commerce Commission, Fonterra's competitors say there is insufficient competition to deregulate.

A sharp decline in whole milk powder prices looks likely at the twice-monthly GlobalDairyTrade auction on Thursday, with futures market pricing suggesting a drop of about 8 per cent.

Investment expert Mark Lister looks at whether our "rock star economy" is headed for recession.

A tourism leader has branded the Government's new travel tax as ludicrous and hypocrisy.

The man behind Taranaki's Kiwi Co-op and Waikato's Dairy Group merger is owed much recognition.

The Chinese dairy firm partially owned by Fonterra has been suspended from trading amid the Chinese stock market turmoil.

Accolades for Craig Norgate rolled in yesterday from the rural and corporate sectors after the high-flying executive died suddenly in London.

"It's pretty negative, there's a lot of selling in the futures and there's not much buying - this market looks completely stuffed."

Business confidence has fallen to a three-year low, led by regions like Waikato, Canterbury and Southland particularly exposed to the dairy sector.

NZX dairy futures pricing continues to point to more weakness in the whole milk powder market, following on from the sharp decline at last week's GlobalDairyTrade auction.

Finance Minister Bill English has denied falling dairy prices pose a risk to New Zealand, saying the dairy industry is a smaller part of the economy than most people think.

There's so much milk flowing out of US cows these days that some is ending up in dirt pits because dairies can't find buyers.

The small reduction in cost at supermarkets does not match the halving of global milk prices since 2011.

So much for the rock star economy.

Shares in Beingmate - the Chinese company which is 18.8pc owned by Fonterra - have halved in value over the past three weeks.

Finance Minister Bill English says the current review of tariffs in the China New Zealand free trade agreement was one of the things that could benefit the dairy sector.

The New Zealand dollar fell after prices for the nation's largest commodity export declined in the latest GlobalDairyTrade auction overnight.

The price for NZ's key dairy export, whole milk powder, is set to decline further at tonight's GlobalDairyTrade auction.

Business confidence turned negative this month for the first time since February 2011, led by a gloomy agriculture sector.

Low dairy prices have not dampened demand for palm kernel - a supplementary feed which has the effect of "turbo-charging" milk production.