Mark Mitchell

Of course, Gonzalez is expected to officially confirm his resignation today as well.

So that's on the hill.

Meantime, there are peace talks going on between Israel and Lebanon in Washington.

And the chance of peace talks round two.

between the US and Iran in the next couple of days.

Plenty for Richard Arndell to get into shortly.

More hard data back here, though, sort of related.

Landing on the state of the economy, the effect Epic Furies had or is having on it.

So retail spending shows a half point rise for March.

Good.

Well, until you crunch down and find the shift towards petrol, of course.

A lot more is being spent on gas, which means a lot less is being spent elsewhere.

Carolyn Young is the Retail New Zealand CEO.

Morning.

Morning, Mike.

How are you doing?

Very well indeed.

So the first weekend before the war started, or the last weekend before the war started here, spending was up 2.9, I note, through crunching through these numbers.

So that was real momentum.

So the war's a spending killer, isn't it, basically?