By Abby Schultz

As countries tighten requirements for investment, or so-called golden, visas, New Zealand is making it easier to gain permanent residency. Since April 1, 369 applications have been submitted under a new visa plan -- up from 65 who applied to a previous program in 2024 -- and 244 have been "approved in principle," according to Immigration New Zealand.

Its revised Active Investor Plus visa aims to attract affluent foreigners. "We are interested in people who have incredible talents, who have skills and expertise and connections," says New Zealand Minister of Immigration Erica Stanford.

The program eases investor requirements. An expected rule change would allow foreigners to buy homes that cost over five million New Zealand dollars (almost US$3 million), which won't raise housing prices for most Kiwis. A 2018 rule banned most visa holders from buying property unless they lived in the country for at least six months a year.

New Zealand is beautiful, English-speaking, a democracy, and quite remote -- "far from the war in Europe, the tinderbox that is the Middle East, the saber-rattling in the South China Sea, and the domestic politics in the U.S.," emails Stuart Nash, CEO of Nash Kelly Global, a New Zealand immigration advisory firm. Some 75% of his business comes from Americans seeking a Plan B. "It's hard to know if this is a result of new visa settings or the current domestic situation in the U.S. -- probably a bit of both."

Write to Abby Schultz at abby.schultz@barrons.com

Last Week

Markets

Hostages were released in Gaza and prisoners in Israel. President Donald Trump softened his China trade talk, but both countries continued to blame the other for the dispute. The government shutdown dragged on, and S&P Global warned of insurers' growing private-market risks. Stocks rose as big banks kicked off earnings by beating expectations, then plunged as two regional banks, Western Alliance Bancorp and Zions Bancorp, reported losses tied to fraud. Friday saw a bounce as anxieties eased. On the week, the Dow industrials rose 1.6%; the S&P 500, 1.7%; and the Nasdaq Composite, 2.1%.

Companies

OpenAI signed another chip deal, with Broadcom, for 10 gigawatts of chips, worth hundreds of billions of dollars. JPMorgan Chase is taking $10 billion stakes in national security companies, part of a $1.5 trillion investment initiative. AstraZeneca struck a Pfizer-like deal with the administration. Trump targeted the price of Novo Nordisk's Ozempic. Nestlé is cutting 16,000 jobs.

Deals

Warner Bros. Discovery rebuffed Paramount Skydance's $20 a share offer... Goldman Sachs agreed to buy venture investment firm Industry Ventures for just under $1 billion... Brookfield will acquire the 26% of Oaktree Capital Management it doesn't already own for $3 billion...Two big timberland owners, Rayonier and PotlatchDeltic, plan to merge in an all-stock deal worth $7 billion...S&P Global is buying private-market data firm With Intelligence for $1.8 billion.

Next Week

Tuesday 10/21

Coca-Cola , Danaher , GE Aerospace, General Motors, Lockheed Martin, Netflix, RTX, and Texas Instruments release earnings on Tuesday, followed by AT&T, GE Vernova, IBM, Tesla, and Thermo Fisher Scientific on Wednesday. Blackstone, Ford Motor, Honeywell International, Intel, and T-Mobile US hold conference calls to discuss results on Thursday. General Dynamics, HCA Healthcare, and Procter & Gamble close out the week on Friday.

Friday 10/24

The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the consumer price index for September. Economists forecast a 3.1% year-over-year increase, two-tenths of a percentage point more than in August. The core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, is also expected to rise 3.1%, matching the previous figure. Despite the ongoing government shutdown, some BLS employees were recalled to collect data for this inflation report so the Social Security Administration could set its annual cost-of-living adjustment.

S&P Global releases both its Manufacturing and Services Purchasing Managers' Indexes for October. Consensus estimates are for a 51.7 reading for the Manufacturing PMI and a 53.5 for the Services PMI. This compares with readings of 52 and 54.2, respectively, in September.

The Numbers

8.3%

The rise in Chinese exports in September year over year, well above expectations. Imports rose 7.4%.

$7 B

Estimate of 2025's tariff-related costs for the Big Three auto makers, Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis.

$50.13

The price per troy ounce of silver this past Monday, racing past the previous record high of $48.70 in 1980.

22

The number of U.S. states (including Washington, D.C.) now in a recession or on the brink of one, per Moody's.

Write to Robert Teitelman at bob.teitelman@dowjones.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

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October 17, 2025 19:25 ET (23:25 GMT)

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