Bernard Hickey details the key news overnight in 90 seconds at 9 am in association with Bank of New Zealand, including news that former IMF boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn has been cleared of charges against him by a hotel maid in New York.
Reuters reports prosecutors asked a judge to dismiss the charges after losing faith in the testimony of the maid.
Oil prices were mixed overnight despite hopes the apparent victory of rebels in Libya may eventually restart oil production there. Brent crude prices fell, but West Texas Intermediate prices rose. See more here at CNN.
Experts warned that it may take a year for Libya to resume full production. It is currently producing about 10% of what it had been producing before the rebellion. See more here at Bloomberg.
Meanwhile, the Gold price rallied to almost US$1,900/oz overnight on renewed talk of money printing by the US Federal Reserve and fears about volatile markets forcing investors into safe haven assets. See more here at Reuters.
Investors are focused on a meeting of US and other central bankers at the Jackson Hole resort in Wyoming on Friday where US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is expected to talk about measures to try to boost growth in America. Some are hoping he will unveil a third round of quantitative easing or money printing to buy US government bonds.
The S&P 500 closed flat and the Dow only rose 0.3% despite earlier being as much as 2% up for the day. Bank stocks have been weak on fears about more turmoil in European money markets and Goldman Sachs shares fell sharply on a Reuters report that CEO Lloyd Blankfein had hired a lawyer to defend charges from the government. See more here at Bloomberg.
The New Zealand dollar was slightly weaker in morning trade at around 82.4 USc, trading down in line with US stock markets as investors moved out of riskier assets. It had risen to as high as 82.7 USc overnight.
Meanwhile, Accident Compensation Corporation has appointed former AXA CEO Ralph Stewart as CEO. See more detail here at Scoop.
No chart with that title exists.
18 Comments
He is not alone , in that description . But on this occassion , he is an innocent dirty lecherous old sod . And he has lost his high profile job , his prestige , much of what he built up has been taken from him by the lies of a chambermaid . What has she lost , by comparison ?
So the Brent price drops but realistically substantial production is many months off....This comment on the drop makes so much sense.....not....Its a guess really, it could be that the markets are continuing to price in a recession/depression and that means the demand for oil will be lower...
regards
Perhaps not so easy in Libya.
http://app.response.stratfor.com/e/es.aspx?s=1483&e=341902&elq=0d0d3cba903b4773a6c3a91f8b5662a6
To Bernard Hickey , here is something that needs to be investigated . Why is South Canterbury's Performing Loans Book being sold off at what looks like about 65Cents in the Dollar ?
Any self respecting Banker will tell you that a performing loan is worth parity at best and about 95 % at worst .
An alternative would have been to underwrite the loan book on sale at parity , and deal with any future non performing loans as they arose .
I would like to see the due diligence done by the recievers on the book being made public , and subjected to public scutiny
At these deep discounts , the Crown finances (NZ taxpayer) gets shafted yet again.
GE buys Christchurch-based Commtest.
"GE (NYSE: GE) announced the acquisition of Commtest, a provider and designer of machinery health information systems. GE Energy’s Bently Nevada product line, a global leader in condition monitoring, will incorporate Commtest products into its portfolio and enhance an already robust lineup. Bently Nevada provides machinery protection and condition monitoring for refineries, petrochemical plants, power plants and wind farms. With more than 50 years of experience, Bently Nevada has built a reputation for improving the reliability and performance of critical production assets like turbines, compressors, motors and generators.
As a major component of predictive maintenance, condition monitoring is essential to increase asset longevity. Through condition monitoring, plant managers constantly receive data that provides input about the health of their machinery. For example, by knowing the vibration behavior and temperature of certain assets, managers can make strategic decisions about preventative maintenance to avoid asset fatigue, breakdown and failure. This is especially critical in the oil and gas and power industries where failed assets potentially cost hundreds of thousands of dollars a day in lost production revenue and increased operating and maintenance costs.
“The acquisition of Commtest allows us to significantly upgrade our portable vibration data collection and analysis capabilities,” explained Art Eunson, general manager for GE’s Bently Nevada product line. “Bently has an extensive portfolio of continuous monitoring solutions, sensors and transducers, software and supporting diagnostic instillation services, but the Commtest acquisition will help us bring our customers a more integrated offering that takes into account the health of the entire plant.”
Commtest is based in Christchurch, New Zealand, and primarily focuses on producing vibration analysis and monitoring equipment. Vibration analysis detects early signs of impending machine failure so managers can proactively direct repairs and make replacements before they encounter expensive failures. The vbSeries are an improvement over traditional, portable walk-around routines. They offer ease-of-use, cost-effectiveness and up-to-the-minute data collection. The acquisition of Commtest—the latest example of how GE provides end-to-end offerings—provides GE customers the benefits of highly reliable and accurate machinery condition monitoring for the total plant.
“With any acquisition, we look for companies and products that have a natural fit and will enhance the solutions we are currently offering,” Eunson noted. “The vibration and monitoring equipment provided by Commtest elevates the Bently offering.”
Granny Herald hilarious once again:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10746838
"Soaring house values"
Classic.
Anybody would think they got a big chunk of their revenue from real estate advertising.
YOU might say that, but i couldnt possible suggest such a thing
Of course the rest of the article tells a much grimmer picture of values v rates, but the headline writers don't care about such piffling details
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