90 seconds at 9 am with BNZ: US confidence weak; US house prices fall; No plan B for Greece; Fire bombs and tear gas in Athens; ECB to hike

Bernard Hickey details the key news overnight in 90 seconds at 9 am in association with Bank of New Zealand, including news that US consumer confidence hit a seven month low in June as data emerged showing house prices fell 4% in the last 12 months.

The S&P/Case Shiller index of prices in 20 cities fell, reducing the wealth of many American consumers.

The reduction in household wealth because of falling house prices has been bigger proportionately than the slump during the Great Depression. See more here at Reuters.

Meanwhile, the Euro firmed and the New Zealand dollar strengthened overnight to 81.2 US cents as markets became a little more relaxed about the prospects for the Greek parliament voting in favour of an austerity plan that will help Greece avoid default for now. See more here at Bloomberg.

However, there was mayhem in the streets around parliament as tens of thousands of protestors clashed with police, exchanging firebombs and tear gas. See more here at Reuters.

Also, the EU has warned it has no Plan B for Greece and a French bank plan to roll over Greek debt would still trigger a formal default, Fitch has warned.

Markets are worried a default would trigger a contagion of fear about bank capital levels across level and create another 'Lehman-style' crisis on credit markets. This would make it more difficult and expensive for New Zealand to roll over its debt.

Elsewhere, the European Central Bank's Jean Claude Trichet indicated 'strong vigilance' against inflation, which has been above the region's 2% target since December.

Markets translated this to mean the ECB would increase its official interest rate from 1.25% next week, despite the apparent weakness in growth in southern Europe. See more here at Bloomberg.