Here's David Chaston's summary of the key news overnight in 90 seconds at 9 am, including the news that almost everything is 'down', and Greece is back at the centre of the euro crisis.
Firstly, however, there was an 'election budget' delivered in Australia late yesterday although there is no election due. They are targeting a surplus next year and based on that have announced big tax cuts as part of an attempt to share benefits of the mining boom. To square their books, they are also the first Australian government in 42 years to actually cut spending.
In Europe, the focus has returned to Greece where anti-austerity parties are trying to form a government. Neither of the two main parties can after their trouncing at the weekend's elections. The rhetoric coming out of those ascendant fringe parties has made more real the possibility of Greece abandoning the euro. There's going to be no national unity in Greece. German reaction is not friendly. If no-one can form a government, new elections are likely. Without voter confirmation of their previously negotiated EU deals, no-one is going to honour it, and they will be bankrupt in June.
Stocks are down sharply in the US. The S&P500 hit a two-month low overnight, and the Dow was down more than 1%. But in late trade, both are recovering somewhat. Commodities are down; US oil down to US$97/barrel, Gold fell heavily and was under US$1,600 per ounce at one point. Grain futures are very soft.
All this bad sentiment has seen the New Zealand dollar continue its fall and it is now at 70.5 on the TWI, and it buys just US0.7880 and AU$0.7790 early this morning.
Bernard Hickey is in Wellington today for the Reserve Bank's Financial Stability report. He will be back here tomorrow.
But perhaps the most important 'down' news today is that Maurice Sendak, known for “Where the Wild Things Are,” has died at the age of 83. He was widely considered the most important children’s book artist of the 20th century. He certainly was in my family.
No chart with that title exists.
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