Bernard Hickey details the key news over the weekend in 90 seconds at 9 am in association with Bank of New Zealand, including news late on Friday night that employment growth in the world's largest economy was weaker than expected.
US jobs grew 39,000 in November, which was less than than the 150,000 widely expected and less than the 200,000 needed to push unemployment lower. Instead the US unemployment rate rose to 9.8%, near record highs.
Despite that, the Dow closed higher on Saturday morning our time and US bond yields fell as expectations of inflation ebbed away.
This widened the yield differential between New Zealand's higher interest rates and lower US interest rates, which made the New Zealand dollar more attractive. It rose to 76.5 USc in morning trade and has risen from 74 USc over the last week.
There was also talk that Europe would expand its bailout fund to cope with Portugal and possibly Spain. This helped stabilise global stock markets. For now at least.
Looking ahead, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand is expected to leave the Official Cash Rate on hold at 3% when it releases its quarterly Monetary Policy Statement at 9 am on Thursday.
The focus will be on the outlook and when the Reserve Bank is expecting to hike interest rates. Most expect either a March 10 or a June quarter resumption in rate hikes.
No chart with that title exists.
We welcome your comments below. If you are not already registered, please register to comment
Remember we welcome robust, respectful and insightful debate. We don't welcome abusive or defamatory comments and will de-register those repeatedly making such comments. Our current comment policy is here.