Bernard Hickey details the key news overnight in 90 seconds at 9 am in association with Bank of New Zealand, including news the Dow has closed down 74 points and under 10,000 as worries about Europe's financial system and sovereign debt outlook continue to mount.
Investors remain concerned about America's economy too ahead of a speech this weekend by US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to a gathering of central bankers at Jackson Hole in Wyoming.
European fear deepened after a Spanish court ruled overnight that the government's tax collection techniques were illegal, sparking fear that Spain's fiscal position would worsen.
Spain has sinced denied the court decision reported by El Economista would cost billions of euros and now says it will just delay the collection of just a few hundred million euros.
Meanwhile in New Zealand, Bank of New Zealand's Chief Economist Stephen Toplis and JP Morgan Economist Helen Kevans have both changed their forecasts for when the Reserve Bank will next raise the Official Cash Rate.
BNZ's Toplis now sees the Reserve Bank holding the OCR at 3% until the December 9 meeting, leaving it on hold on September 16 and October 28. He had previously seen a hike in September and one more at either the October or December meetings. \
JP Morgan's Kevans was previously forecasting a hike in September, a pause in October and then another hike in December. She now sees a pause until December.
Meanwhile, on a lighter note, the Bank of Botswana has held its OCR at 10% and reported that GDP grew 36.4% in the first quarter. That is not a typo. Botswana is the world's largest diamond miner and has seen a recovery in demand and output.
And in China, the world's longest traffic jam is just starting to move after drivers were stuck in their trucks and cars for 10 days in a jam that extended 100 kilometres. There was a problem with road works.
The New Zealand dollar was solid around 70.3 USc.
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