Here's my summary of the key news overnight in 90 seconds at 9 am in association with Bank of New Zealand, including news the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) has formally declared that Greece's debt restructure is not characterised as a default.

See more here on the ISDA decision here at Bloomberg. This is important because a formal default would have triggered billions of dollars worth of Credit Default Swap contracts, which some had feared would cause strife in Europe's financial system. Reuters also reported Greece had formally secured a second bailout from its European donors.

US stocks were 0.4% firmer in late trade, partly because of the Greek news, and partly because US jobless claims fell by 2,000 to 351,000 last week, which was better than expected and suggests a recovery is underway in the US jobs market. See more here at Bloomberg.

Meanwhile in China, factory output as measured by the Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) showed expansion for the third straight month, encouraging those who hope a hard landing can be avoided, although (strangely), it fueled a selloff in some Asian markets because it appeared to reduce the chances of fresh Chinese monetary stimulus. See more here at Bloomberg.

However, China's housing market continues to struggle. Soufun, a real estate website, reported house prices fell the most in 19 months in February. See more here at Bloomberg.

The New Zealand dollar was solid overnight, but again failed to surmount and stay over the 84 USc mark. See our interactive chart below on the currency.

Across the Tasman, RP Data and Rismark have proposed creating a tradable derivative based on an index for Australian house prices.

This could be traded on the Australian stock market and allow buyers and sellers to bet on the housing market without having to buy or sell a physical house. See more here at ABC.

This is the final 90 seconds at 9 am sponsored by Bank of New Zealand. We'd like to formally thank the BNZ for three years of sponsorship.

We will continue producing 90 seconds at 9 am and we'd welcome a new sponsor. Email me at bernard.hickey@interest.co.nz if you're interested.