Here's my summary of the key events overnight that affect New Zealand, with news that the US Fed has kept its policy rate unchanged again.
But it did explicitly say it will look at whether it will "raise the target rate at its next meeting". That seems a pretty clear signal to me.
The NZ dollar fell sharply on the announcement.
In a rare act of bipartisanship, the US Congress has overwhelmingly revived their ExIm Bank, a shameless trade subsidy for their largest companies. Corporate threats to move some manufacturing offshore were influential.
This deal came before the September trade balance for the US was announced which came in much better than expected - exports were up, imports were down.
China has confirmed new rules allowing the country's pension funds to buy in their stock market in 2016. The move is expected to unleash a potential inflow of about NZ$500 bln or about 30% of the pension funds' net assets.
Yesterday's Australian inflation number - +2.2% pa on a weighted mean basis - along with an underlying economy that is facing strong head winds, may well mean that workers there will be facing declining real wages. And that will contrast to a much better situation on this side of the ditch. Positive trans-Tasman migrant flows could well rise in 2016.
In New York, the UST 10yr yield benchmark rose today is now at 2.09%.
Also gaining was the US benchmark oil price which is now just under US$46/barrel, and the Brent benchmark is just under US$49/barrel.
The gold price also jumped, now at US$1,183/oz.
The New Zealand dollar starts today lower after the Fed announcement at 66.5 US¢, at 93.9 AU¢, and at 60.7 euro cents. The TWI-5 is at 71.9.
Stay tuned for the 9am announcement of the RBNZ OCR review. We will have full coverage, although no change is anticipated.
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 today is by following our Economic Calendar here »
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8 Comments
But, but, but... iIf they put interest rates down then Auckland house prices will go hyperbolic. Then 100s of tower blocks will get built until there are three times the number of apartments than people who can afford them. Then the apartment market will fall apart and prices will crash. Now you know we can't have that because we would then get cheap housing.
That is just not true for either the US, or for New Zealand. Retail sales are growing. In both countries, people are spending at record levels.
Unrelated but I saw this article this morning and thought it might be of interest to some. I don't agree with everything but at least it faces the tough issues. Bill Gates "We need an energy miracle"
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/11/we-need-an-energy-m…
...US Fed has kept its policy rate unchanged again.
But it did explicitly say it will look at whether it will "raise the target rate at its next meeting". That seems a pretty clear signal to me.
Clear as mud to me, while the Fed is incapable of correctly counting and managing the Fed Funds rate as it stands.
But there are certainly many long suffering US citizens in need of support to boost savings.
The retirement savings accumulated by just 100 chief executives are equal to the entire retirement accounts of 41 percent of U.S. families -- or more than 116 million people, a new study finds. Read more
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