Here's my summary of the key news overnight in 90 seconds at 9 am, including news of some more realistic talk from Chinese policy makers.
But first, this morning the minutes of the June Fed meeting were released. Some FOMC committee members were concerned investors may be growing too complacent about the economic outlook and the central bank should be on the lookout for excessive risk-taking. These comments saw the US dollar weaken.
They confirmed bond buying will end on schedule in October. They also began detailing how they plan to ease the American economy out of an era of loose monetary policy, and seemed near agreement on a three-pronged strategy to manage interest rates in the future.
In China, inflation cooled somewhat in June and is now at 2.3%. But authorities there are finding it increasingly difficult to grow and free-up at the same time. Overnight they admitted they are in no position to pull back from their long-standing currency peg policies.
They also said that their government's 7.5% economic growth target isn't a "floor," suggesting that Beijing may be accepting that slower growth is their future.
On Wall Street, stocks are rallying again, gaining back a lot of the recent sell-off.
Yields on benchmark UST 10 yr bonds rose today and are now at 2.57%. The oil price fell yet again with the US price threatening US$102/barrel, Brent $108/barrel. The experts continue to be confounded by surging US energy production. Gold was slightly higher overnight, now at US$1,325/oz.
Oh, and by the way, we also start today with the NZ dollar in record territory again. We are at 88.1 USc (the post-float record high is 88.4 USc), at 93.7 AUc. The TWI is at 81.9 extending the run of daily all-time highs.
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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