Is this election cycle any different to normally markets being driven by inflation and interest rates, et cetera, et cetera? Is this election throwing anything off kilter for any particular reason? Government debt and all that?

No, I mean, New Zealand's in a relatively good position compared to globally on the amount of government debt we actually hold.

And so, you know, whilst there's concerns, it's not to the same level that you see in countries that have very high debt levels relative to GDP.

And so, you know, I think the concern would be if either party or whoever comes in on the day sort of changes that track and significantly starts to spend.

I think we might start to see markets react to that.

And that's what you're seeing in the States.

You're getting this driver where actually it's not just the voters that are important, it's the people who buy their bonds.

How important is it for us in the world we live in now, post-COVID borrowing and all that sort of stuff? What should our attitude, do you think, ideally be for when it comes to debt? And how afraid should we be of increasing levels

How relevant are they to

the markets? Really relevant.

I mean, where the US market goes tends to be a leader for the global economy.

And so it's nice to think that we're all the way down here in the Pacific and we've got our own election and it's far more important.

But in reality, what happens in the US is really important for the outlook for the global economy.

You know, we've seen Trump's had the ability to impact global markets in varying ways over the last while.

And certainly you saw this spike or negative spike in activity post the tariff announcements and the impact that has on markets.

Are they – what's the story with bond yields? What makes bond yields the key market sort of variable? And what does that even mean, actually, now I ask that question?

[laughs]

No, but it is higher.

But, you know, people have, uh, tended to support that US economy.

Um, you know, it's historically been the, uh, you know, safe harbor nation and, and the trading currency of the world, and so people have wanted to continue to buy, uh, US debt.

And so it's had that safety thing going for it.

Um, you know, there were periods, and there have been periods in the past I think when the Eurozone, um, sort of first kicked off and went to strength, that there was concern around the US no longer being the base currency for global trade, and, uh, you know, rumors of China, uh, again p- playing a similar thing.

Uh, you know, the gold bugs will of course tell you that gold will take over from the US currency as the reserve currency of the world.

How important is, uh, is it for us, you know, in the world we live in now, post-COVID borrowing and all that sort of stuff, w- what should our attitude do you think ideally be for when, when it comes to debt and how afraid should we be of increasing levels of government debt?