Here's my summary of the key news today in 90 seconds at 9 am, including news of regulator and court action.
Reuters is reporting overnight that EU antitrust regulators will levy a record fine of at least €1.5 billion on six financial institutions, including Barclays, HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland , for rigging the yen Libor interest rate benchmark.
At the same time, a court case has opened in New York where a group of professional oil traders are out to prove that BP, Shell and Morgan Stanley, among others, manipulated the Brent oil benchmark. It's a case that could have explosive consequences.
And here's an update from a 2011 case: remember Jon Corzine? He was an ex Goldmans banker who became a politician, then went on to start MF Global, which folded in an investor run following some serious market rule violations. Well, despite the dire things he was accused of at the time, a bankruptcy court has approved a plan where everyone will get all their money back. The insolvency rumour turned out not to be true, even in the stress of a collapse.
Speaking of stress, inflation is rising in China - and more quickly than authorities there are comfortable with. The central bank has issued a warning that they will take action if it goes much higher. 3.5% is their upper tolerance level and September came in at 3.1%. The October data will be released this weekend and is expected to be higher than that.
In other overnight news, German and British factory PMIs rose strongly in October, but EU retail sales were particularly weak. The ECB is about to review its rate settings tomorrow and there is speculation that we may see a cut. The question there is, does low inflation there mean prices are under control, or a signal that deflation is setting in?
The New Zealand dollar shot higher yesterday on the better-than-expected employment numbers. Along with the Auckland housing pressure, markets see a clearer case for RBNZ rate hikes next year.
The NZ dollar starts today at 83.8 USc, 88.0 AUc, and the TWI was at 77.7.
The easiest place to stay up with today's event risk is by following our Economic Calendar here »
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