Here's our summary of the key news from over the long holiday weekend in 90 seconds at 9 am, including news that the March jobs data in the US disappointed the markets on Friday. Only about half of the expected jobs growth was posted - around an extra 120,000 new jobs - but economists are thinking this is an aberation rather than a trend. The average for the previous three months was an increase of over 200,000 per month.
Disappointment over the March data led the US dollar to fall, and our dollar starts the week at US$0.8230, and the TWI at 73.6 which is its highest level in almost a month. In fact, the kiwi dollar is now trading at AU$0.7970 which is its highest level against the Australian currency in well over six months.
The sinking feeling in Australia is becoming more widespread. Westpac has released an interesting research note that the massive mining investment boom there has reached its peak and will likely fall from here. That peak was at NZ$1.1 trillion (AU$912 bln) of pending projects. Westpac says that backlog will fall away from here, and maybe quite rapidly and some projects get 'mothballed'.
Of course, that is all to do with China. Over the weekend they reported a rise in their inflation rate to 3.6% in March, which will worry Beijing policy makers and make it harder for them to add stimulus to their economy without fueling even more inflation.
In New Zealand this week it will be all about house prices as both QV and the REINZ reveal their March data, probably on Thursday.
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