Here's my summary of the key news overnight in 90 seconds at 9 am, including news the US economy slowed to a crawl in the March quarter.
But first, this morning the US Federal Reserve looked past those very weak first quarter economic growth numbers and confirmed another US$10 bln cut in its bond-buying program - now down to US$45 bln per month - which is being taken as a sign of its confidence in the American economy's prospects.
The advanced estimate of US economic growth - the earliest of three the US issues - reported a very weak March quarter of only +0.1% real. Given that most observers thought March was rebounding from the weather-related slowdown, January and February must have been quite negative.
The US dollar fell on the news as did bond yields. UST benchmark 10yr bond yields fell more than 4 bps and are now at 2.66%.
Oil also fell along with the gold price - it is now below US$1,290/oz. Equities rose.
One winner in all this was the Kiwi dollar. We start today with the NZ dollar up at 86.1 USc, also up against the Aussie at 92.8 AUc and the TWI is just a fraction under 80.0.
In Europe overnight, the European Court of Justice said Britain could not block other EU members from establishing a Tobin Tax on share and bond purchases and on derivatives trades. The London financial centre is seriously worried.
And finally, China is poised to overtake the US as the world’s largest economy, while India has vaulted into third place ahead of Japan, using PPP calculations. This is all according to a World Bank/ UN program. Under these latest calculations - for 2011 - the NZ dollar was worth 67.3 USc. That is 15% below the 79.2c average rate for the year used in the fx markets.
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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