Here's our summary of key economic events overnight that affect New Zealand, with news China has co-opted all its companies, state-owned and private, as agents of it political goals.
But first, US retail sales fell last week from the prior one and extending the slippage. But at least they were just ahead of the same week a year ago.
But American home sales rose in +10% year-on-year August for the third consecutive month and to a 14 year high, fueled by good demand for homes at the top end of their market and a pickup in Northeast sales after that region's pandemic crisis has faded. The median price jumped because of the luxury twist, up +11% to US$310,600 (NZ$468,000). This has been a market that was slow to bounceback and it seems to have done so now.
China’s loan prime rates for September have remained unchanged for the fifth straight month.
And the Communist Party has moved to tighten control over private business in the country. It says the Party must strengthen its leadership over private companies, and that entrepreneurs must meet the Party's needs. The position of foreign-owned companies is unclear but probably included. All Chinese companies are now Trojan horses for the exercise of Beijing's central power. This includes Chinese companies operating outside China.
EU consumer confidence is mired in negative territory in September, showing no real signs of improving.
In Australia, their central bank says they may buy even more government debt to lower interest rates as the Aussie economy faces an uneven recovery. They are targeting their three year rate, holding it 0.25% by aggressive bond issuance and started with an AUS$84 bln warchest. But yesterday they announced it is likely to be expanded to $140 bln or 5% of the AU$2.7 tln debt market.
And Australia will be keeping an eye on the iron ore price. Thermal coal prices are down sharply along with oil and gas prices, but iron ore has been a standout. But the top seems to have been passed for iron ore with prices down sharply over the past two weeks. China's steel industry may be tiring of overpaying for this input and China may also be looking for another way to lean on Australia.
In New York, the S&P500 is up +0.7% and a relatively small bounce from yesterday's sharp retreat. They follow European markets that were generally up by about +0.3%. Yesterday Shanghai ended its session down -1.3% and Hong Kong was down -1.0%. Tokyo was closed for a holiday and has some catching up to do today when it opens. The ASX200 ended down -0.7%, but the NZX50 Capital Index ended up +0.6%.
The latest global compilation of COVID-19 data is here. The global tally is 31,410,000 and up +247,000 in one day. Global deaths now exceed 967,000.
Just under a quarter of all reported cases globally are in the US, which is up a massive 60,000 overnight to 7,059,000. The number of active cases are stable at 2,542,000 so they have as many new cases as recoveries and making no progress. Their death total is now just over 205,000 and back rising at +1000 per day.
In Australia, there have now been 26,942 COVID-19 cases reported, and that is only +30 more cases from yesterday. Deaths are up slightly at 854 (+3). Their recovery rate is now just on 90%.
The UST 10yr yield is little-changed but on the lower side at 0.66%. Their 2-10 rate curve is unchanged at +53 bps, their 1-5 curve has slipped to +14 bps, while their 3m-10 year curve is also unchanged at just under +59 bps. The Australian Govt 10 year yield is unchanged at under 0.90%. The China Govt 10 year yield is also lower at 3.12% and a small -1 bp dip. And the New Zealand Govt 10 year yield is also down -1 bp at 0.52%.
The price of gold will start today down another -US$5 at US$1906/oz. Silver is down proportionately more.
Oil prices have stayed down and are still at US$39/bbl in the US, while the international price is marginally firmer at just on US$41.50/bbl.
The Kiwi dollar starts today lower again at 66.4 USc and another -¼c slip overnight. Against the Australian dollar we are slightly firmer at 92.6 AUc. Against the euro we are softish at 56.6 euro cents. That means our TWI-5 has retreated slightly to 69.7.
The bitcoin price is up a minor +0.8% today, and now at US$10,483. The bitcoin rate is charted in the exchange rate set below.
The easiest place to stay up with event risk today is by following our Economic Calendar here ».
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