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90 seconds at 9 am: House prices rise; loan approvals fall in Australia; Chinese exports slow; EU to accuse banks over more rate manipulation; NZ$1 = US$83.3, TWI at 74.6

90 seconds at 9 am: House prices rise; loan approvals fall in Australia; Chinese exports slow; EU to accuse banks over more rate manipulation; NZ$1 = US$83.3, TWI at 74.6

Here's my summary of the key news overnight in 90 seconds at 9 am, including news that New Zealand house prices rose in November at the fastest annual pace since late 2007, led by demand in Auckland, while monthly property sales were their highest in five years.

We have all the detail, with charts on these links.

Meanwhile, Australian home loan approvals rose less than expected in October even after the RBA cut interest rates aimed at stimulating the economy and boosting the housing market. It's not working for the Aussies yet, apparently.

In China, exports slowed sharply in November in a reminder of the external headwinds that are blowing against the country’s economic recovery. That resulted in a trade surplus of "only" US$19.6 bln in November for China, its lowest in five months. This data runs counter to recent good retail sales and factory output data for the same month.

Perhaps it is a sign that China is managing to stimulate its domestic economy, and that would be good for New Zealand. In fact, new car sales in China picked up last month. The signs of a rebalancing are starting to look promising.

The European Union is expected soon to accuse multiple banks of attempted collusion in the setting of Euribor. Barclays has already acknowledged trying to rig the rate, and other banks are likely to be pressed by regulators in the US, Britain and elsewhere into similar admissions. The long-running Libor scandal has opened a whole can of worms for the London and Frankfurt-based banks.

The NZ dollar starts today at 83.3 USc and 74.6 on the TWI.

No chart with that title exists.

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8 Comments

Anyone hear Tim Groser on Morning Report?

 

" I, I, I," oops "we" ....."I, I, I ".

 

Someone should write the history of this phase of our Climate Change abdication, and if nobody else does it, I will. With particular emphasis on the actions of the Minister.

 

The sad joke is - as we know - their precious 'economic growth' is a dead cat regardless of the ducking and weaving.

 

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In five years time all of Tim Groser's efforts will be seen as wasted effort.

 

He over enthusiasticly pushes in the reverse globalization direction based on his belief of unlimited fuel resources.

 

Mankind needs to going in a different - more harmonious-with-the-planet  direction. In order to leave some resources for our grandchildren.

 

We need smaller and simpler. Please please give up and retire now Tim.

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In five years time all of Tim Groser's efforts will be seen as wasted effort.

 

if  we're lucky

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Timmy wants the WTO job so bad he can taste it. Can't get it without US approval for his efforts on TPP

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Gordon Campbell and Scoop have been all over Groser and the TPP for the last week. Even the usually sycophantic Aussies are playing hardball with the US. Supine is a word he uses to describe NZ efforts. It's likely no wide ranging agreement will ever be reached with the TPP but NZ's efforts, Groser in particular, do not bode well for any future bilateral deal with the US

 

New Zealand has been hosting the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) talks in Auckland for the past week, but you’d have to say things haven’t worked out quite as well as some had hoped. In fact, it has been a bit sad to watch, up close. This country put on its dancing shoes, flirted openly with the United States and yet has still ended up the week in a corner, dancing almost entirely by itself.
 

http://gordoncampbell.scoop.co.nz/2012/12/10/gordon-campbell-on-new-zealands-embarrassing-tpp-overtures-to-the-americans/

 

Remember how the Key government has justified being so very, very secretive about the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) because goodness me, you don’t negotiate these things in public? Well, guess who has just been negotiating the TPP in public? Trade Minister Tim Groser, that’s who.....

Groser seemed pretty confident in his Inside US Trade interview that he can both please the Americans, and manage any outcry that might break out here at home: “I am confident we can find ways that advance U.S. interests [on these two issues] without causing projectile political vomiting in New Zealand, and many of the other countries of the TPP,” Groser said. Plainly, by being seen to be seeking to “advance US interests” and by casting himself as a deal broker within the TPP, Groser would also be doing no harm at all to his bid to become the next head of the World Trade Organisation. Let’s just hope and pray that Groser’s personal ambition and New Zealand’s best interests manage to intersect at some point.

 

http://gordoncampbell.scoop.co.nz/2012/12/04/gordon-campbell-on-tim-grosers-political-projectile-vomiting-about-the-tppa/
 

 

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He should reflect on the 'career' of Mike Moore.

 

 

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I think he is. Mike Moore might be fustrated he doesn't get the love he feels he deserves from the ungrateful NZ public but he did get the WTO and he did get made ambassador to Washington for playing the game correctly

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I am still eagerly awaiting the arrival of Mike's "Lambburger" fast food chain. 

 

Maybe if I wait another  40 years?

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