90 at 9: Bernanke confident on economy; Westpac sells bond overseas

Bernard Hickey details the key news overnight in 90 seconds at 9am, including news that The New Zealand dollar hit 66 USc briefly overnight. Stock markets around the world are calmer, meaning investors are keener to buy risky currencies like the NZ dollar. Markets were also reassured by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke saying the worst of the recession may be over, although it was too early to start hiking rates  Bernanke also talked about the Fed's exit strategy from all the monetary stimulus pumped into the US economy. He said the Fed planned to withdraw it in a 'smooth and timely' way. He also said he was against plans to 'Audit the Fed' that are going to remove the Fed's independence. Meanwhile Westpac raised NZ$225 mln through a 5 year overseas bond issue at 60 basis points above swaps,Reuters reported.This is Westpac's second bond issue this year and was slightly cheaper than the 80 basis points over swaps struck with the last issue. It follows Reserve Bank instructions to banks to borrow overseas for longer terms and to borrow locally from Mums and Dads to reduce bank reliance on short term foreign borrowing. This has the effect of keeping upward pressure on mortgage rates because of the relatively higher funding costs for longer term foreign debt and local deposits.