Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services says it is too early to assess the overall effect on the nation’s economy.

“While we expect an immediate hit to economic growth, extensive reconstruction efforts are likely to bolster economic activity thereafter. There is likely to be a negative impact on government finances but we believe that the Crown’s very low debt burden [a ratio of central government net debt to GDP of about 14% in 2010] provides it with some room to absorb increased spending on reconstruction.

Stuff is boasting that not only are its homepage numbers bigger than the Herald’s, the entire site is now more popular too.

Fairfax Media group head of digital Stephen Smith said that according to Neilson Stuff garnered 1,531,318 domestic unique web browsers during July, compared to the Herald’s 1,520,176, the first time Stuff has been in front since November 2007.

The fear of a credit downgrade hangs over next week’s Budget , giving Finance Minister Bill English little room for new policy initiatives.

Economists and business leaders were asked what their expectations and fears are for the Budget, which Mr English will deliver next Thursday.

The expectation, and hope, is the year-on-year increases in government spending above GDP that we have seen over recent years will be reined in.

The big fear is that if Mr English does not do enough to rein them in, credit agencies will deliver a rating downgrade to New Zealand.

Live TV coverage of the Napier police shooting drama last Friday pushed TV One’s midday news to its highest-ever rating.

Figures supplied by TVNZ say viewer numbers for all aged five and above was 156,230. The previous biggest viewing numbers were just under 140,000. By comparison, TV3’s midday news attracted 32,870 viewers.

TV One’s 6 o’clock news topped 700,000, well above TV3’s 452,650. These figures were also well above the previous Friday’s viewership of 550,000 and 341,000 respectively.

New Zealand's sovereign credit rating was today affirmed by Standard&Poor's.

The credit rating agency is not worried about a change of government and is not currently worried about events in the non-bank sector, but it is also not looking to upgrade New Zealand to a AAA rating any time soon.

S&P affirmed New Zealand's "AA plus/A-1 plus" foreign currency credit rating and said it has a stable outlook.

An upgrade to "AAA" would require a significant and sustained improvement in New Zealand's external position over many years, the agency said.