Here's my summary of the key events over the weekend that affect New Zealand, with news of some global economic slowdowns.
Firstly, in China growth in their manufacturing sector slowed faster than expected in April as producer price inflation cooled and Beijing's clampdown on the financial sector weighed on demand. Growth in their service sector also slowed somewhat but it is still expanding strongly at a similar level we have seen for over a year.
But that slowdown is nowhere near the sudden one we have seen in the US. Their economy stumbled during the first months of the year. Consumers reined in spending despite a rise in confidence and despite a rise in equity markets. GDP grew at just a +0.7% annual rate in the first quarter, the slowest pace of expansion in three years.
In Europe, inflation is back up to +1.9% and near the policy targets. Not only were energy prices up, both food and services prices were also rising in this official survey. These levels were higher than markets were expecting.
In Australia, the latest filing by Google there shows revenue up strongly to A$1.14 bln in 2016 from A$498 mln in 2015 after Australia tightened its anti-avoidance laws. However, declared profits only rose to A$16 mln from A$2.8 mln in 2015, the accounts show. Those same accounts reveal that the company has had a new tax demand lodged by the ATO, and Google says it will fight it.
And staying in Australia, APRA says it is keeping an eye on rising risks in lending for commercial property projects, an area the regulator says has "traditionally been the cause of stress in the banking system". Their review found "clear evidence of an erosion of standards due to competitive pressures - for example, of lenders justifying a particular underwriting decision not on their own risk appetite and policies, but based on what they understood to be the criteria being applied by a competitor".
In New York, the UST 10yr yield will start the week unchanged at 2.29%.
Oil prices are still slipping lower at now just over US$49 for the US benchmark, while the Brent benchmark is now just over US$52 a barrel. The number of new rigs being brought back into production in the US continues it's strong upward growth; these are now back to mid 2015 levels.
The gold price is up marginally at US$1,266/oz.
The New Zealand dollar will open unchanged at 68.7 USc. On the cross rates the Kiwi dollar is at 91.7 AU¢ and against the euro at 63 euro cents. The NZ TWI-5 index is now at 73.4.
If you want to catch up with all the changes on Friday, 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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