Here's my summary of the key news overnight in 90 seconds at 9 am, including news the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose to its highest level ever, erasing losses from the financial crisis after a four-year rally.
It was fueled by the fastest profit growth since the 1990s and monetary stimulus from the US central bank.
European stocks also rose to a 4½ year high.
In the US, HSBC has had its share of run-ins with regulators there. Now it looks like it is starting to sell out of some of its US businesses, with a US$3 billion deal to quit some consumer lending.
In China, the outgoing premier has announced their current growth target remains 7.5% pa for this year but also warned it would be hard to achieve.
The euro zone appears to be heading for a fourth consecutive quarter of economic contraction, as surveys of purchasing managers indicate business activity shrank at a faster pace in February.
In Australia, the RBA kept its benchmark rates unchanged yesterday. Dairy farmers there are enduring a tough time: Milk price retail competition, their high dollar and fast rising costs have contributed to a collapse in the average cash income of dairy farms, down from A$143,200 in 2011-12 to an estimated A$95,000 this financial year.
By comparison, net cash income on a Kiwi dairy farm is more than NZ$500,000. We don't know how lucky we are.
And the latest Fonterra dairy acution has prices up a stunning 10.4% from the previous auction. Whole milk power was up 18%. This has pumped up our currency significantly.
Staying with the ag theme for a moment, world rice production is at record levels with farmers growing so much of the grain, it is depressing prices.
Oil prices are unchanged as is gold, although copper and aluminium rose overnight.
The kiwi dollar starts today slightly higher at 82.9 USc, 81.1 AUc, and the TWI is at 76.2.
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6 Comments
Dow Jones Industrial Average rose to its highest level ever, erasing losses from the financial crisis after a four-year rally.
I think this explantion of stock market wealth needs to come with a health warning
Health warning ? ..... that explanation shows the DOW index is made up of geriatric behemoths , many long past their glory days of growth ........
........ they wait until a company has reached it's peak , to that point where it becomes a political & bureaucratic morass , and shuffles hundreds of millions into the board directors pockets instead of the shareholders , and then they include it in the DOW ...
.... if just one Netflix had've been in the DOW the index would stand at well over 15 000 points now ...... says so in your article ! ......... Nyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh !!!!!
Well, the Dow is up, auctioned milk is up, house prices keep going up, rice is down... Whay-hay, looks like it's back to Business-As-Usual, No-Thought-For-Tomorrow! Goodbye recession, goodbye depression! I feel like bursting into song!
We're in the money,
We're in the money;
We've got a lot of what it takes to get along!
We're in the money,
The sky is sunny;
Old Man Depression, you are through,
You done us wrong!
We never see a headline
'Bout a breadline, today,
And when we see the landlord,
We can look that guy right in the eye .
We're in the money
Come on, my honey
Let's spend it, lend it,
Send it rolling around!
I feel like bursting into song!
So do I:
Stevie Wonder's
"He's Misstra Know-It-All"
He's a man
With a plan
Got a counterfeit dollar in his hand
He's Misstra Know-It-All
Playin' hard
Talkin' fast
Makin' sure that he won't be the last
He's Misstra Know-It-All
Makes a deal
With a smile
Knowin' all the time that his lie's a mile
He's Misstra Know-It-All
Must be seen
There's no doubt
He's the coolest one with the biggest mouth
He's Misstra Know-It-All
If you tell him he's livin' fast
He will say what do you know
If you had my kind of cash
You'd have more than one place to go oh
Oou...oou...oou oou...oou...
Any place
He will play
His only concern is how much you'll pay
He's Misstra Know-It-All
If he shakes
On a bet
He's the kind of dude that won't pay his debt
He's Misstra Know-It-All
When you say that he's living wrong
He'll tell you he knows he's livin' right
And you'd be a stronger man
if you took Misstra Know-It- All's advice oh oh
Oou...oou...oou oou...oou...
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