KEY POINTS:
The top four business stories from nzherald.co.nz for Thursday, Jan 29:
ANZ National, Westpac, Kiwibank all cut rates after OCR move
Banks have begun to drop home loan rates after the Reserve Bank this morning cut the official cash rate by 150 basis points to 3.5 per cent.
Brian Fallow: Bollard's bold steps
Today's cut means governor Alan Bollard has slashed the official cash rate by an emphatic 4 percentage points in just three months.
Global growth to be 'worst since WWII'
WASHINGTON - The world economy will essentially come to a halt this year as more than US$2 trillion of bad assets clog the financial system, the International Monetary Fund said today.
Microsoft billionaire takes a bath on cable investment
NEW YORK - How do you lose $7 billion?
That's a question for Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who has seen his massive investment in cable TV operator Charter Communications all but vanish.