Here's my summary of the key news overnight in 90 seconds at 9 am, including news the Fed has adopted those tougher rules.
Overnight, the US Federal Reserve approved new standards for foreign banks. These will require the biggest of them to hold more capital in the US. America has now joined other countries in erecting walls around domestic financial systems.
Separately, US Treasury data showed that China's holdings of Treasuries fell by US$47.8 billion in December, the biggest one-month drop in two years. China remains the biggest foreign holder, but other foreign countries are increasing their holdings, pushing overall holdings by foreigners to a record high. Belgium actually posted an increase in holdings greater than China's decline, while Hong Kong, Ireland, Norway, South Korea and the Netherlands all significantly boosted their holdings as well. In total, foreigners hold a bit less than 33% of all US debt on issue.
In Japan, big companies are getting ready to raise wages - for the first time in years - a crucial piece of Abe's economic-revival quest. In a deflationary economy this is a novelty.
French carmaker Peugeot has sold down its longstanding control to the French Government and a Chinese carmaker is a last ditch rescue attempt. It still has more than US$7 bln in cash, so that rescue will come with new international models aimed at Asian buyers.
Greece has posted its first current account surplus since records began in 1948, fuelled by a 15% growth in tourist spending. That's the good news. But Greek unemployment is now at a record 28%.
Overnight, Britain reported its latest unemployment result, and the level of jobless there fell to 7.2%. That's down from 8.4% two years ago.
In Australia, the growth in pay continues to slow. In fact the rise in the December quarter of 2.6% pa was the smallest they have recorded since they started collecting this data in 1997.
UST benchmark bond yields fell overnight to 2.70%. Oil continued its climb in US markets, but gold fell back a little to under US$1,320/oz.
The NZ dollar was basically unchanged overnight and starts today at 83.0 USc, 92.0 AUc and the TWI is at 77.8.
If you want to catch up with all the changes on Monday, we have an update here.
The easiest place to stay up with today's event risk is by following our Economic Calendar here »
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In other news - US natural gas prices soared to over $6 (the highest front month prices since dec 2008), as stockpiles fell to the lowest levels since 2004.
A spokesperson from AASSFRAC (the American Association of Frackers) said 'We are pleased to see continuing rises in the price of natural gas and remain optimistic that the on-going glut in supplies can continue to lead to increasing prices, which clearly shows the market is working efficiently'.
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