Iran Peace Deal Impact

Now, if you worked around noise at any point in your life, you know, farms factories, construction trades, all that sort of stuff, and your hearings change, then a there is a proper process to find out whether that's work-related, and if it is ACC may well be able to find your hearing aid. So this is resonate health. Uh, this is how they do it. No matter which ACC funding band that you qualify for, you receive the top of the range hearing aids, no surcharge, no extra dollars to access the best tech, and the team take care of the lot. They do the paperwork, the fitting the adjustments, the ongoing care. Now I know some people wonder whether they can trust a provider to actually follow through on that. Well, here's the good news resonate. They've just been independently accredited by consumer New Zealand, no less as a consumer trusted business. So seven mystery shoppers, unannounced across the studios around the country, and the finding was consultative, no pressure care. Every single mystery shopper said they'd recommend resonate. So how good's that? That's the independent tick right there. So if you think you might be eligible for the ACC funding, 0800 73762 or resonate health.co.nz. Now, 724 consumer confidence is in the doldrums again, as we've mentioned this morning. We're a flaky old lot, aren't we? I mean, they've seen similar things in America. You take a single confidence reading in America, you would believe it's the end of the world, but look at the metrics on jobs and spending, it defies the mood, which would lead you to believe that what people say and what they do are often different things. So we're sitting on an 80. It's fallen 14. That's a lot. A hundred or more is positive, we're far from positive. If it helps, I'm positive. Could I find stuff to be negative about? Yes, I could. We all could, at any time, no matter what's going on. But take spending. Data out this week from last month, right? It was up, and it was up a lot. Durables were up. Durables are things like sofas and fridges. Why would you buy a sofa if you're miserable? And yet we did. Oil this week is down a lot. That money will go into cafe lunches and movie tickets. Things are getting better. I think it's a fear the worst mentality that we suffer from. The food price stats yesterday. They're virtually normal. In other words, in the reserve bank bands, zero to three percent. No extra inflation to the war. The interest rate hikes that were going to be needed to tame the so-called runaway secondary costs landing on our beleaguered economy, may not be needed. Sharon and I were talking about that just a moment ago. Now the common line used is yes, some are doing it tough. No, we're not out of the woods yet. All of that's true. I get that. But it isn't as bad as predicted. The facts cannot be denied unless you have a political agenda, and it suits you to deny them. In other words, if you look on average at the facts, most people have work. Most people are under financial control. The banks tell us this. Spending is up. We have some savings and looking forward, the war is over, things will get better. The GDP today tells us what we were traveling like pre-war, and that was pretty well, thank you very much. So the facts do not equate to the AT in confidence. Now, be miserable if you want. It's a free will, but I'm not. And I reckon I'm better for it. Hoskey. Mike, I wonder if the problem is because we look at the Brent Crude price, and it's not what New Zealand's actually buying. I hope, good text. I hope that's one of the great lessons out of this whole war thing. The understanding and realization that oil is but one component in the price of petrol at the pump. And so don't just look, it's the refined cost we're buying, and we're buying the future replacement cost. That's the great learning out of the war, I think. Mike, seeing this fuel prices and scarcity of supply never eventuated, like many of us, including yourself, and uh predicted. When are those who were wanting us to panic and throw cash around going to admit they were wrong? Well, they'll never admit they were wrong, Mark. But it's a very good point you make. Uh I could, if you want me to play devil's advocate, argue that it has been tough. It is tough. The cost of petrol is still elevated. It is not what it was, and therefore Trump was a waste of time. The whole thing was a waste of time. But you are right, it was never as calamitous as we thought it might be. And that's before you get to the fact. How many people honestly, dark moment, hand on heart, went and bought an EV out of panic? You want to buy one because you love them, go. Couldn't care less. But how many went and bought an EV out of panic and are now thinking, maybe I acted just a little bit quickly. And that's before we get to the job market, which is interesting in and of itself. We talk with Louise Upston next.