Here's my summary of the key news overnight in 90 seconds at 9 am, including news of some significant market wobbles.
The European Central Bank will ease monetary policy further if the euro keeps strengthening, President Mario Draghi said yesterday in Washington as world finance chiefs ramped up pressure on Europe to ward off deflation.
In the clearest signal yet the ECB was prepared to launch a stimulative asset-purchase program, Draghi said the euro's exchange rate had become increasingly important to policy and would act as a trigger.
In the background to these meetings are dangerous sparks growing in eastern Ukraine.
UST 10 yr benchmark bond yields continued their fall at the end of last week in New York and are now at 2.63%. This will continue to put downward pressure on our longer term wholesale rates, despite the continuing upward pressure on the short term rates from the next impending OCR increase, which should come next week. The 90 day bank bill rate is now at 3.22%, up 20 bps from when the first 2014 OCR hike was announced.
The unification of the US and Brent benchmark oil prices is getting closer, with prices adjusting faster for the Brent price than the WTI price. There is now less than US$4/barrel between them.
Gold was off slightly at the end of last week's trading, and starts at US$1,318/oz. Equity markets were down about 1% at the end of last week and will open nervously today.
This week we get two data releases that will have wide interest. On Wednesday, NZ consumer price inflation for March is expected to to be +1.7% for the year, +0.5% for the previous quarter and as such not worry RBNZ policy makers. On Wednesday we also get the next Fonterra dairy price auction which is coming on the back of some quite weak market signals. Currency markets are starting to take more notice. 2014/15 payout expectations are probably going to have to be adjusted lower.
We start this week with the NZ dollar at just under 86.9 USc, 92.6 AUc and the TWI is still at 80.5.
If you want to catch up with all the changes yesterday, we have an update here.
The easiest place to stay up with today's event risk is by following our Economic Calendar here »
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