Here's my summary of the key news overnight in 90 seconds at 9 am, including news on some election campaigns.
The long-running Australian campaign has seen very low polling for the governing Labor Party even after a 'good news' week for them. There is still a long way to go in this one, however, as the election is not until mid-September. But even though it will have less impact on us, more interesting is the rise of the anti-euro party in Germany.
The political establishment has dismissed Germany's new anti-euro party as a fear-mongering populist aberration that could implode even before a looming federal election.
But the first congress of the "Alternative for Germany" showed that the movement, launched only a few months ago by a group of renegade academics, journalists and businessmen, is striking a chord with voters and may prove an influential force come September. The Germans vote a week later than the Australians.
Back in Australia, banks have been benefiting from much lower money costs and will come under more pressure to pass on reductions, especially as they argued that high margin costs were the reason they didn't cut in full earlier. In the meantime, their bottom lines have been getting the boost.
Gold ended last week down sharply having wiped out all the gains it had posted since early 2011 and all eyes will be on the precious metal when markets open today. It closed under US$1,500/oz and silver fell to under US$26/oz. Oil and metals also fell.
The Kiwi dollar starts today at 85.8 USc, 81.8 AUc, the Japanese yen has risen a bit to 84.5, and our TWI is at 78.8
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