Here's my summary of the key issues from overnight that affect New Zealand, with news mainly from China today.
China's industrial production is still growing at healthy rates but they are declining and no longer supporting the government's target of +7% growth for the overall economy. Heavy industry is now a drag in China.
China's retail sales growth is another marker there to show signs of increased slowing. Retail sales in the two month period to February were up 'only' +10.7% compared to the same period a year ago, which is a very noticeable slowing in their terms. Capital formation is showing similar signs of rapid slowing.
Also in China, their quality control regulator said overnight it will increase scrutiny of milk powder imports from New Zealand following the 1080 blackmail threat.
And also overnight, Bank of England boss Mark Carney said it would be "extremely foolish" for them to cut interest rates to try to combat low inflation because that was temporary and largely caused by the sharp fall in oil prices.
The UST 10yr yields seem to have stabilised at 2.13%. Local wholesale rates fell about -3 bps yesterday an the curve became flatter.
The crude oil price was fairly stable overnight but fell slightly in the US to US$48/barrel while the Brent crude price is holding at US$57/barrel. US crude oil stocks continue to swell to record highs; where to store the stuff is now a major problem.
The gold price just keeps falling, down another $9/oz to US$1,148/oz.
The New Zealand dollar starts today still falling against a resurgent US dollar and is now at 72.2 US¢ having actually fallen below 72 USc earlier in the morning, it is at 95.2 AU¢, and the TWI is down to 77.7. The exchange rate story is not really about the NZD, it is more about the rising USD and the weakening euro. In fact, the next 'parity party' won't be between the NZD and AUD, more likely it will be between the USD and the euro.
If you want to catch up with all the local changes yesterday, we have an update here.
The easiest place to stay up with event risk is by following our Economic Calendar here »
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