Gross domestic product figures released this morning show NZ came close to a double-dip recession this year.

The Government has turned down Hong Kong listed Natural Dairy NZ's controversial bid to buy the Crafar dairy farms from receivers in a deal thought to be worth about $200 million.

New Zealand had a current account surplus of $35m in the September quarter Statistics New Zealand said today, due largely to Canterbury earthquake insurance claims.

Helen Clark has angrily denied claims her government sent NZ non-combat engineers to Iraq over a Fonterra contract.

Silver Ferns Farms has hit back at complaints that workers at its Te Aroha plant had their pay deducted for observing a two-minute silence to remember the Pike River miners.

An unsuccessful discounting strategy contributed to poor trading results that forced Fisher & Paykel Appliances to downgrade earnings guidance today.

Staff at a North Island freezing works had their pay cut for the official two-minute silence to remember the 29 miners killed in the Pike River mine.

Dairy prices in Fonterra's latest online auction are up 2.4 per cent.

Dairy giant Fonterra is boosting its billion dollar forecast payout to farmers.

Falling fuel prices helped lift New Zealand's terms of trade 3 per cent in the September quarter.

Fonterra has this morning announced an increase in its payout forecast for the 2010/2011 season by 30 cents per kilo of milk solids to $6.90.

If the good news is that the Reserve Bank expects rates to be lower for longer, the bad news is why it thinks that.

More than $1 billion is pumped into the economy every time Fonterra boosts its payout to farmers by $1, says a report which confirms the dairy industry's importance to New Zealand's finances.