Talk Money: November 23

  • 23/11/2015
Talk Money Tony Field (Paul Henry)
Talk Money Tony Field (Paul Henry)

By Tony Field

Adele is set to smash all sorts of records with the release of her new album "25".

It looks like it will easily sell more copies in its first week than any album in recent memory.

Already iTunes says "25" has sold more than 900,000 downloads in one day in the United States.

Billboard reports that she is on track to sell 2.5 million copies in the US.

That would surpass the record set by NSYNC 15 years ago when "No Strings Attached" sold 2.4 million copies sold in its first week.

THE RISE OF STREAMING

CD sales are down this year (5 percent in the US and 7 percent in the UK). That decline has been offset by the rise in streaming,

But Adele has decided to keep "25" off streaming sites like Spotify and Apple Music. That decision has clearly been made with the aim of maximising CD and download sales in the Christmas period.

That is a contrast to Justin Bieber and One Direction, who have both embraced streaming.

Songs from Bieber's new album "Purpose" were streamed 205 million times in the past week globally on Spotify. Songs from One Direction's new album "Made in the A.M" have generated over 100 million streams in the last week.

RATE CUT

SBS has unveiled a home loan rate that is under 4 per cent.

The one year fixed home loan rate of 3.99 per cent is timed to promote a refresh of the bank's branding.

There are conditions. The 3.99 per cent rate is for loans of more than $100,000. It is for residential, owner-occupied properties only and it is for customers with a minimum deposit of 20 per cent.

THE DOLLAR

The New Zealand dollar starts the week with little changed from Friday.

It is trading at 65.60 US cents and 90.66 Australian cents.

The Kiwi is trading at 43.20 British Pence, 80.56 Yen and 61.66 Euro cents.