90 at 9: Commodity price gains erased; Gold nears US$1,000/oz

Watch The Video Here Bernard Hickey details the key news overnight in 90 seconds at 9 am in association with ASB, including news that New Zealand's commodity prices are up 12.3% in US dollar terms since February, but are flat in NZ dollar terms because of the NZ dollar's strength, or more accurately, the US dollar's weakness. Meanwhile, the gold price traded in New York at close to US$1,000 and is up sharply in recent days. There is  talk that Chinese interests are buying gold and certainly US dollar weakness is a factor in the jump. The big issue for central banks now is when they start withdrawing their monetary stimulus. The ECB said overnight it was too early to pull out as it left its key rate on hold at 1%. Withdrawal too early and the global economy goes into a double dip: withdrawal too late and there's a danger of inflation. Meanwhile the OECD has upgraded its economic forecasts.