Dairy prices buoyed by WMP; less than half of Australians expected to be home owners by next year; US housing starts up; more work to be done reforming benchmark rates; UST 10yr yield at 1.55%; oil down, gold up; NZ$1 = 70.5 US¢, TWI-5 = 74.5

Here's my summary of the key events overnight that affect New Zealand, with news dairy prices are flat. 

The GlobalDairyTrade price index remained stable at last night's fortnightly auction. At US$2,336 per metric tonne, there hasn't been too much movement in the last three auctions. Yet the price of Whole Milk Powder has inched up 1.9% to US$2,079 per metric tonne, recovering from its third consecutive drop. 

AgriHQ dairy analyst Susan Kilsby says the aid granted by the European Union will help to slow growth in milk production a trend that has already started to occur. She says this will be good in the short-term, allowing global supply and demand to rebalance quickly. But continuing to support inefficient farms means we are likely to be faced with over supply issues again in the future.

A University of Melbourne study has found fewer than half of Australian adults will own a home by next year. The results from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey (known as HILDA), which tracks the same 17,000 Australians each year, differ from the commonly quoted figure that two thirds of Australians are home owners. Nonetheless, they show a trend, with their home ownership rates dropping from 57% in 2002 to 52% today. 

Over to the US, the number of new houses being built rose more than expected in June. Yet downward revisions to the prior months' data indicates the sector's hit a lull, as permit requests and construction activity are no longer accelerating sharply.

The Financial Stability Board says progress has been made reforming controversial industry benchmark rates in the wake of rate-fixing scandals. The Board, chaired by Bank of England governor Mark Carney, says regulation around European, UK and Japanese interest rate benchmarks, known as inter-bank offered rates (ibors), has tightened. Yet there’s still more work to be done. 

The UST 10yr yield has dropped to 1.55%. Meanwhile, after yesterday's surprise LVR announcement, local wholesale interest rates have sank sharply and start today at record all-time lows across the curve.

The US benchmark oil price has fallen to just below US$45/barrel, while the Brent benchmark is just below US$47/barrel.

The gold price is up to US$1,331/oz.

Yesterday's LVR announcement has seen the NZ dollar soften to a three-week low against the US at 70.5 US¢. It's up a bit to 93.9 AU¢ and down slightly to 64.0 euro cents. The TWI-5 index has fallen to 74.5.

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 ».