Business diary: news you can use

Are we at the top of the commercial real estate cycle? Hear about that in Auckland later today.

What's happening in the world of business, finance and economics today? We have the latest business, markets, currency and personal finance news, opinion and financial market reports.

1. Real estate
Are we at the top of the real estate cycle? That topic will be examined at the Property Council's investment seminar at The Nothern Club from 4pm to 6pm. Speakers Dejan Radanovic and Chriss Freeman will give a market update on commercial property. What's pushing returns?

2. John Key
Prime Minister John Key will hold his weekly press conference this afternoon. Could there be further information released on this week's Budget? The Budget is the key event this week, to be announced at 2pm on Thursday. As Craig's Mark Lister says: "From a financial markets perspective, there is unlikely to be anything substantial in it, and there will be little to drive interest rates or the currency materially one way or the other."

3. Evolve
The NZX listed early childhood education business will release its annual result today. Evolve Education Group has a market capitalisation of $184 million and its shares are trading at slightly above $1.

4. Court
The case between NZX and Ralec continues in Wellington. This is expected to run for about seven weeks and is now about half-way through.

5. Ahead
Reports from NZX listed entities will be out this week. From Craig's Lister: "This is the last busy week from the local reporting season, and there are a number of intriguing results and annual meetings scheduled. The two heavyweights are Mainfreight and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, which report full year results on Thursday and Friday, respectively. In addition, Gentrack, Argosy Property, Pacific Edge, Metro Performance Glass and Arvida will report earnings. Vista holds the only AGM of note, and this is scheduled for Tuesday."

6. Overseas
PMI data is out this week in Japan, the United States and Europe. "This will be one of the first economic indicators for this month," Lister says. "Last month PMIs were disappointing across the board, with all these regions missing expectations. Japan's flash PMI of 48.2 was the worst in years, with production and new orders both declining markedly. Europe and the US were above break-even at 51.7 and 50.8 respectively, but these were still disappointing. Backlogs of work in the US falling for the third month in a row and export sales remaining a drag. Expectations are for a minor increase this month from April levels."