Talk Money: December 7

Tony Field (Paul Henry)
Tony Field (Paul Henry)

The Reserve Bank will review the Official Cash Rate on Thursday.

Most economists had predicted the RBNZ would cut the OCR by 0.25 percent to 2.5 percent.

But that is now looking like a 50/50 call.

There are some good reasons to cut.

Dairy prices are weak and economic growth is slowing in some of our export markets like China. Inflation is weak and at the bottom of the Bank's target range.

House prices have eased as well which gives the Reserve Bank a bit more room to move.

However there are also some good arguments for the Reserve Bank to hold steady at 2.75 percent.

A cut to rates now might fuel the housing market and the RBNZ would like to see the Kiwi dollar fall further.

But that could happen on its own if the Federal Reserve hikes US interest rates later this month.

THE DOLLAR

The currency markets are starting to think the Reserve Bank might wait.

The Kiwi has spiked since Friday morning.

It was trading at 67.40 US cents at 8.30am.

It is hovering just under 92 Australian cents at 91.79.

The Kiwi was trading at 44.63 Pence, 61.99 Euro cents and 83.08 Japanese Yen.

PETROL PRICES

The national petrol price has dropped again.

The national price for Unleaded 91 fell to $1.91.9 on Friday and diesel is retailing at $1.16.9 per litre.

Of course the actual pump prices can vary widely in different regions.

What is the lowest and highest that you have seen lately?

RECORD BREAKERS

Adele's record breaking run with '25' continues.

Billboard reports that the album sold 1.1 million copies in its second week of release in the United States.

It's the first album to sell one million units in two different weeks since Nielsen Music started tracking US sales in 1991.

'25' has sold 4.49 million copies in two weeks in the United States.

She is not the only artist who is breaking records right now.

Justin Bieber's song "Love Yourself" has knocked his track "Sorry" from the top of the UK singles chart.

The last artist to do that in the UK was Elvis Presley, with two reissued singles in 2005 ("Jailhouse Rock" and "One Night/I Got Stung"). Before that it was The Beatles back in 1963 with "She Loves You" and "I Want To Hold Your Hand."

Watch the video for the full Talk Money segment.