Here's my summary of the key news overnight in 90 seconds at 9 am, including news Australia may be facing a decade of deficits.
Australian Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan has warned that their budget will not return to surplus until tax collections recover from a strong dollar 'sledgehammer' that he said pushed revenues $7.5 billion below official forecasts for this financial year.
Analysts say the gap between spending and revenue is now so large it can be closed only by higher taxes, meaning the days of 'painless' budget fixes are over. In the firing line are increases for company tax and company tax concessions, personal income tax and GST.
The British government has launched a legal challenge at the European Court of Justice against plans for a European financial transactions tax. Others are saying it is a risk to global growth.
In Italy, the President was re-elected by lawmakers, but the profound government deadlock shows no sign of being resolved.
In the US, eyes are on Apple's latest profit results. But equally, Q1 GDP growth will get the focus later in the week. And the US stats bureau has announced that they will be revising how they calculate GDP starting later in the year - by for the first time including values of intellectual property, and including the liabilities for unfunded pension schemes. These changes are a big deal, but are not expected to alter US economic growth stats.
The Kiwi dollar starts today at 84.1 USc, 82.0 AUc, and our TWI is at 77.9.
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