Here's my summary of the key news overnight in 90 seconds at 9 am, including news the Aussie election date has been set.
But first, the big news of course is the international reaction to Fonterra's whey contamination issue. When the news broke on Friday night, the currency had a mild reaction, but markets closed soon after. We are expecting to see further adjustment down to US$0.77 when the markets open locally in a few minutes. We have more on this story elsewhere on the site.
Elsewhere, US non-farm payrolls came in below expectations - jobs growth there is slow going. But the American unemployment rate dipped slightly to 7.4%.
In China, their non-manufacturing PMI came in lower than a month ago, but still significantly expansionary.
In fact, their central bank is still tightening monetary conditions by draining funds from its banking system, and there is no actual sign yet it is easing up in response to a slowing economy.
The Australian election has been called. September 7 is the date, a week earlier than the previous government had chosen. That will make it 4 days after the next RBA rate decision which is widely expected to be for a cut in official interest rates.
A fact I didn't know; Australia has an official debt ceiling law, very much like the US. The latest budget woes show that it will need to legislate before the end of 2013 to raise the official limit, which is currently set at A$300 billion. It is expected to hit $A370 billion by April 2016, and is currently sitting at A$260 billion.
Today is a bank holiday in Australia, so expect delays in deals across the ditch.
The NZ dollar opens the week at 77.0 USc, the Aussie dollar is at 86.4 AUc, and the TWI is at 74.5.
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