Here's my summary of the key news overnight in 90 seconds at 9 am, including news that offshore financial markets seemed to stall last week.
But first, over the weekend China announced it will invest more than 1 trillion yuan (NZ$190 billion or about equivalent to New Zealand's annual GDP) redeveloping shantytowns this year as the government promotes urbanisation as an engine of growth, according to state broadcaster China Central Television.
China also took a major step in the weekend toward making the yuan a freer currency by loosening its daily trading limits. The 1% either way daily limit has now been changed to 2% either way.
The Russians are pulling back billions from their overseas bank accounts in the fear that looming sanctions could trap them in an asset freeze. The European banking system will notice. The Crimea standoff has also seen NATO websites disabled by a cyber attack.
In Australia, weekend elections have almost swept the Labor Party from power in all state governments. It is close in South Australia, but the Liberal Party and its coalition partners have achieved a rare political feat in Australia. Recent polls show rising support for the Federal Liberal Party too.
The oil price inched up at the end of last week although the US and Brent benchmarks are now a lot closer together; the gold price rose to above US$1,380/oz in New York, and UST 10 yr benchmark bond yields slipped lower to 2.66% on the Ukraine tension.
New York equity markets lost more than 2% last week.
It is also worth noting that aluminium and copper prices took serious tumbles last week, accentuating their long-run down trends. In NZ dollars these falls are pretty spectacular. Expect Rio to come knocking again soon.
Our currency starts this week significantly higher that at the same time last week. The NZ dollar opens at 85.3 USc, 94.7 AUc and the TWI is at 79.7.
If you want to catch up with all the changes yesterday, 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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