US factory output surges; foreign UST holdings plummet; SA in big train order; AU to probe Chinese house buying; NZ$1 = US$0.857 TWI = 79.9

Here's my summary of the key news overnight in 90 seconds at 9 am, including news of a big rail project.

But first, US factory production rose in February by the most in six months, showing manufacturing is helping the American economy emerge from a weather-related setback.

Over the past couple of weeks 'someone' - presumably Russia - sold a huge tranche of US Treasuries, probably the most on record. These foreign holdings were well over US$3 trillion at the beginning of the year. Last week they had sunk by more than US$200 billion.

That might be a reason the UST 10yr yields has fallen. They rose a little overnight to 2.67%.

We are used to hearing about big airplane deals. Here's a big deal in the rail sector. South Africa has ordered 599 new electric trains and 465 diesel trains in a deal worth some NZ$5.5 billion.

(Incidentally, the 3.5 km planned Auckland rail loop is currently projected to cost NZ$2.9 billion.)

An Australian Federal government committee is to examine laws governing foreign investment of property. Victorian Liberal back bencher Kelly O'Dwyer told ABC radio that the investigation would not be anti-Chinese even though buying by Chinese nationals now accounts for 12% of new home sales.

Overnight the oil price has fallen more than US$1/barrel - Brent is down almost US$1.70/barrel. The gold price is also lower - having briefly hit $1,390/oz, it is back to where it was last week at US$1,370/oz.

Equities have gained back much of what they lost on Friday with the New York indexes up about 1% in mid-afternoon trade.

Our currency starts today higher. The NZ dollar opens at 85.7 USc, 94.3 AUc and the TWI is at 79.9.

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 »