Here's David Chaston's summary of the key news overnight in 90 seconds at 9 am in association with Bank of New Zealand, and today the news is all about jobs.
In Australia, they added the most jobs in fourteen months in January and their unemployment rate unexpectedly declined.
In the US, the drop in first time jobless claims was the lowest since 2008.
And there was a surprise rise in the number of US building permits. This relatively good news and the news that car maker GM had a record 2011 result, despite its European operations, is helping propel the Dow back over 12,900.
Oil is up over US$102, and gold is on a downward trend, briefly dropping to US1,705 overnight.
The World Gold Council issued its Q4 report revealing demand was soft for the precious metal in Q4. It also said China is likely to overtake India as the biggest market for the commodity.
China announced it will set its lowest growth target for the coming year, its lowest since 2004
And finally in Europe, it is now the Greeks complaining and resisting delay. But the Germans say a decision will be made about whether to fund the Greek austerity plan “one way or the other” by February 20 despite rumours about waiting until after the Greeks have elections.
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5 Comments
Wolly, the antidote is here:
http://www.oftwominds.com/blogfeb12/grand-game-perception-mgt2-12.html
and bankers timetable(23rd of March) for Greek default here:
http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2012/02/16/greek-default-exclusive-senior-u…
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