Here's my summary of the key news overnight in 90 seconds at 9 am, including news markets are showing signs of risk aversion following the Ukraine airplane disaster.
US stocks fell while Treasuries rallied with gold after Ukraine said rebels shot down a Malaysian passenger jet with nearly 300 people on board near its border with Russia. Sanctions intended to curb violence in the region sent European markets lower.
Building permits and housing starts in the US were sharply lower in June than May, although still significantly above the same month a year ago. They were surprisingly weak in the South. Housing is not contributing much to the recent upturn in American growth. Factory data out overnight was good however, building on a trend, and jobless claims fell yet again last week.
Microsoft has said it will cut up to 18,000 jobs marking the deepest cuts in the iconic technology firm's 39-year history. Most of them will be in Europe and most of them related to the recently acquired Nokia unit.
Across the ditch, Australia has repealed its carbon tax.
Also in Australia, the AFR is reporting that a senior Australian regulator has floated changes to narrow the gap between how much capital the big four banks and the rest must set aside against home loans. Others say such a move is inevitable, and it’s just a matter of how much more the big banks will need. Their capital troubles will grow if the RBNZ also made the same moves here.
Overnight, the USDA monitoring of international dairy prices came in weaker, confirming the recent auction trend.
In New York, yields on benchmark UST 10 yr bonds fell sharply on the Ukraine news and are now at 2.48%. The US oil prices rose almost $2/barrel in the US but much less for Brent and the Brent premium narrowed further. Gold jumped to US$1,316/oz a +1.5% rise on the day.
And we start today with the NZ dollar slightly lower. We are now just under 87 USc, at 92.7 AUc. The TWI is just under 81.
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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3 Comments
A nice, loooong article from Phil Best on the effect of UGB's on land and this housing prices.
Read it and weep, AKL and CHC-ers.....
A classic ripost from PB lurks deep in the comment threads, too - if I were 20 years younger I'd have this sort of fire in My belly, too...
"One of my main criticisms of the urban planning that forces land prices up, is that it is alleged to be in the cause of reducing commuting distances. Any young person who started saving in 1996, for a $180,000 bungalow near a CBD, which inflated in price at a rate of $100,000 per year over the next decade, will tell you pretty straight that you have NOT helped their options of buying somewhere that gives them a shorter commute. This is pretty much the reason I got involved in researching these issues in the first place, as I could see the planning advocates were utterly defrauding the next generation with a completely opposite outcome to their suave policy sales pitch. It has disgusted me that so many people are incapable of seeing the obvious, and worse, that some of the seemingly brightest people are continuing to push the con under the guise of genuine social concern……!"
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