Here's our summary of key events overnight that affect New Zealand.
Minutes from the Federal Reserve's meeting on May 1 and 2 show central bank policymakers are happy to let inflation briefly run above the 2% target as US the economy continues to recover. Some officials are concerned about the yield curve flattening, and that an inversion could signal a recession. While the Fed kept interest rates on hold at its last meeting, it remains on track to hiking them at its next meeting on June 12 and 13.
Over to Turkey, turmoil there is continuing. Its central bank raised its top interest rate at an emergency meeting overnight, bowing to pressure from financial markets after the government’s rejection of higher borrowing costs plunged the nation into a currency crisis.
The Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia has pointed to the build-up of debt and bad loans in China as one of the biggest risks facing the Australian economy. Philip Lowe has delivered a speech saying similar situations in the past have led to a slowdown in growth or financial crisis. The RBA is so concerned about Chinese debt that it'll have a special discussion about it during a board meeting later this month.
One of the strongest privacy laws the world has seen will take effect at the end of the week. The European Union's General Data Protection Regulation gives individuals more control over what businesses and organisations can and cannot do with their private information. While the law is a European one, the borderless nature of the online world has virtually every commercial entity that touches the web making changes to their sites and apps to comply.
The UST 10yr yield has fallen 4bps overnight to 3.02%.
The US crude oil price is pretty much unchanged at US$72/bbl. The Brent benchmark is just below US$80/bbl.
Gold is stable at US$1,293/oz.
No fireworks in the currency markets overnight. The New Zealand dollar is down a touch to 69.2 USc, and up slightly to 91.5 AUc and 59.2 euro cents. The TWI-5 is at 72.2.
The price of Bitcoin has fallen by 8% to US$7,522.
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