Here's my summary of the key news overnight in 90 seconds at 9 am, including news the ECB is getting close to launching a major QE program.
But first, the American trade deficit unexpectedly widened in February as exports hit a five-month low, suggesting first-quarter growth could be much weaker than initially anticipated. Balancing that, service industry expansion picked up a bit in March, although not quite as much as was expected. Also unexpected was the size of the jump in first time unemployment claims.
In Europe, the ECB has kept rates on hold at 0.25% but Mario Draghi said they ready to move deeper into uncharted territory in the fight against deflation, with policy makers now prepared to embrace QE and who are debating what form it might need to use.
In more central bank news, Brazil has raised interest rates for the ninth straight time overnight to 11%, extending one of the world's longest-running monetary tightening cycles after a surge in food prices stoked already high inflation.
In Australia, a bigger than expected trade surplus in February was news that sat well with the reports of new China stimulus measures we noted yesterday.
New Zealand's ranking yesterday as the world's most socially advanced nation may come as a bit of a surprise to the glass-half-empty brigade, but they can rest assured that it will be a hard spot to retain, so their day may come. In the meantime it is something to be proud of.
UST 10 year benchmark bond yields fell slightly overnight to 2.78%, gold and oil are both up marginally, and New York equities are holding at their near-record levels in mid-afternoon trade.
The NZ Dollar starts today lower at 85.4 USc, the Aussie is at 92.6 AUc, and the TWI is a tad under 80 this morning.
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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