Best of Business

The services sector continues to contract.
The latest Services Index rose 2.7 points to 48.9 – with anything below 50 signalling contraction.
New orders was the only category in expansion, sitting at 51.2, while employment remained negative for the 29th consecutive month.
BusinessNZ Advocacy Director Catherine Beard told Mike Hosking the figures are the result of the fuel situation due to the conflict in the Middle East.
It’s a shame, she says, as we started the year in quite positive territory.
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It's tourism's time to shine this week as TRENZ hits Auckland.
The country's largest tourism business event runs from today to Thursday at the International Convention Centre.
More than 12 hundred delegates will attend from key markets like the US and China, and it’s projected to inject more than $3 million into Auckland's economy.
Tourism Industry Aotearoa CEO Rebecca Ingram told Mike Hosking 16 thousand business meetings will take place.
She says the benefits are multi-layered as some will boost this summer, but most of it will be focused on the two after that.
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The BNZ-BusinessNZ Performance of Services Index (PSI) rose 2.7 points to 48.9, up from 46.2 in March.
A reading below 50 indicates the sector - which accounts for nearly three-quarters of the economy - is contracting.
Harbour Asset Management expert Shane Solly explained further.
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A former Finance Minister once forced to bail out BNZ says buying it back would be lunacy.
New Zealand First is proposed re-nationalising the bank, buying it back from Australia's NAB and merging it with Kiwibank.
Leader Winston Peters says bank profits should remain in New Zealand.
But Ruth Richardson says the idea has no weight.
"It makes New Zealand look like a tinpot country, where populist politicians feel free to nationalise private businesses. Why stop at banks? I mean, supermarkets like Woolworths are foreign-owned."
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The United Kingdom isn't facing as many financial troubles as predicted, after the latest data shows their GDP holding steady.
The past few months in the UK have been dominated by challenges to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer's leadership, and many believed the issues in Parliament would damage the country's financial stability.
Business Correspondent Vicky Price told Ryan Bridge that, 'what we did see here was in the UK was an increase of 0.6% in the quarter in GDP, which is quite unexpected.'
But she said this won't be A relief for Starmer, who faces more leadership challenges from members of his cabinet.
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