Here's my summary of the key news overnight in 90 seconds at 9 am, including news markets showed some resilience overnight.
In the US, housing starts climbed in March to the highest level in almost five years, propelled by a surge in multifamily building and are now growing at over 1 million extra homes a year. And US consumer prices declined 0.2% in March following a 0.7% rise in February as the cost of petrol fell sharply and food prices were unchanged.
Oil is down 1% today, and Brent crude has fallen below US$100/barrel. Gold has bounced up minorly but is still only at US$1,369/oz. Aluminium prices are holding, but copper is down sharply again.
Equities bounced back after a steep decline the day before, following solid corporate earnings reports and that drop in conumer prices. The Dow is up almost 1% in mid-day trade.
The IMF reduced its global growth forecast and urged European policy makers to use "aggressive" monetary policy as a second year of contraction leaves the euro area’s recovery lagging behind the rest of the world.
European politicians approved major new rules on Tuesday to cap the amount that bankers at the region's largest institutions can receive in bonuses.
The latest Fonterra dairy price auction showed only a tiny rise overall, consolidating the sharp price increases we have seen in the previous three auctions. However, ingredients other than milk powders did well, catching up with the previous jump in powder prices.
The Kiwi dollar starts today at 85.1 USc, 81.9 AUc, the Japanese yen has risen again to 83, and our TWI is at 78.0.
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