By Bernard Hickey
Here's my 90 seconds at 9 am summary of the overnight news in association with Bank of New Zealand, including news the New Zealand dollar has strengthened to 80.7 US cents overnight in tandem with strength in the US stock markets, which was linked to hopes for a rebound in US economic growth.
Our currency often moves in sync with appetites for risk globally, given it is seen as a 'growth' currency exposed to moves in the global economy and commodity prices.
US stocks were up around 0.5% in late trade after data showed US factory output rose by 0.9% in December, which was the strongest growth in a year. See more here at Bloomberg.
Also producer prices fell 0.1% last month when inflation of 0.1% had been expected. In theory, this gives the US Federal Reserve more room to ease monetary policy to further boost the world's largest economy.
Meanwhile, markets also welcomed news the International Monetary Fund wants to double its lending firepower to US$1 trillion to help countries deal with any fallout from the European crisis. See more here at Reuters.
However, on the negative side, the World Bank slashed its growth forecasts overnight. It now sees global growth in 2012 of 2.5%, down from its June 2011 forecast of 3.6% growth for the 2012 year.
It also warned that emerging economies could see a slump in growth similar to that seen in 2008/09 in the wake of the Lehman Crisis. See more here at Bloomberg.
Also, Britain's unemployment rose more than expected to a 16 year high of 8.4%. See more here at Reuters.
The news came as British discount clothing retailer Peacocks was put into administration, putting 10,000 jobs at risk. See more here at BBC.
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