Here's my summary of the key events overnight that affect New Zealand, with news ANZ has been slapped with yet another lawsuit based on a very dodgy corporate culture among their traders.
But first, today's dairy auction came in pretty much where the derivatives market had signaled - a +4.5% rise underpinned by a +3.2% rise in WMP prices. That confirms and embeds the +20% rise at the previous auction. And because the Kiwi dollar has weakened a little since the last auction, the rise in NZD is a respectable +5.6%. Prices for SMP and cheese both helped boost today's result, which will have more analysts talking about a NZ$6/kgMS payout level for the new season, maybe even higher. That will means dairy farmers are profitable again.
In the US, retail sales rose more than expected in October - up +3.3% from a year ago - as people bought more cars and a range of other goods, and signaling sustained economic strength that could allow the Fed to raise interest rates next month.
And staying in the US, defaults are rising in the commercial real-estate debt market just as borrowing costs are set to jump. This raises the likelihood of a slowdown of the US$11 tln American commercial property sector next year. The problem is based on rising vacancy rates from exuberant building recently, and a wall of more than $100 bln in debt maturities coming due. It is also a sector the US president-elect is exposed to, and one reason he wants to get rid of the Dodd-Frank reforms.
Germany's economic growth slowed in the September quarter and only up +1.5% year-on-year. It was held back by weaker exports, figures have shown. Somewhat in contrast, there was a surprisingly good growth result for Italy in the same period. Actually, Italy hasn't had negative growth since 2013.
ANZ is being stung with yet another lawsuit, this time from their New York office, again alleging a terrible corporate culture among traders.
In Australia, the IMF has called on them to boost infrastructure spending, to avoid the symptoms of a mediocre economy and despite their gloomy deficit track.
In New York, the UST 10yr yield is now 2.22%, and little changed from this time yesterday. In the interim however, it has been quite volatile, at one point trading almost at 2.30%.
The US benchmark oil price is +US$2 higher today and is now just over US$45 a barrel, while the Brent benchmark is on US$46 a barrel.
The gold price is higher as well, up +US$7 to US$1,225/oz.
The New Zealand dollar will start today essentially unchanged from this time yesterday, at 70.9 US¢. On the cross rates it is now at 94 AU¢, and against the euro at 66.1 euro cents. The NZ TWI-5 index is at 75.9.
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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