Here's my summary of the key news overnight in 90 seconds at 9 am, including news on Bernanke's replacement.
The US Senate Banking Committee has approved Janet Yellen's nomination to become the first woman to lead the Federal Reserve, sending it to the full Senate for a final confirming vote which will be a formality.
Japan held its official rate at its latest review, although the BofJ dropped heavy hints that a fresh round of monetary easing could be on the way if the country’s exit from deflation seems threatened by a tax rise next April. A consumer rush to buy before that GST increase is expected to temporarily pump up GDP.
There were very mixed signals from US factories overnight. The closely watched Philadelphia Fed factory index fell dramatically from 'strong growth' to 'modest growth'. However, the latest flash US PMI came in much higher suggesting an accelerating pickup in national factory activity. It was at an eight month high.
The flash PMIs for Europe were down but still positive - up for Germany, but a steep fall for France. British factories are recovering. China however barely stayed in expansion territory in this review.
Other US data the markets noticed included the fall in the latest weekly initial unemployment claims, a bigger fall than expected. And producer inflation for October came in very low, following similar US CPI data yesterday.
Gold has slumped again, hitting a four month low, and causing major anxiety in the gold mining industry. Some see further falls. Oil is higher, as are the equity markets today. The UST 10yr benchmark bond yields jumped this morning and are now at 2.82%.
The NZ dollar starts today quite a bit lower at 82.1 USc, 88.7 AUc, and the TWI is at 76.9.
The easiest place to stay up with today's event risk is by following our Economic Calendar here »
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1 Comments
Gold has slumped again, hitting a four month low, and causing major anxiety in the gold mining industry
The strategy of forward sales to protect and fund future profits has had a negative outcome. I often wondered what else gold mining management expected other than an outright price collapse.
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