Here's my summary of the key news overnight in 90 seconds at 9 am, including news that the EU is investigating both Visa and Mastercard over the level of fees it charges for card transactions made by people visiting Europe.
Staying in Europe, the Greek government is in disarray after the leaking of a secret and explosive report drawing up vast reparations claims against Germany, covering both the First and Second World Wars. EU unity has long left the building, it seems.
The IMF has released a report trying to explain why inflation has remained so low despite the huge amount of money printing by the world's major economies. They called their report, The Dog That Didn't Bark.
China's consumer price index took a substantial dive last month, retreating from a 10-month high posted in February. Inflation there fell from a 3.2% annual rate to 2.1% in just one month, a sharp slowdown attributed to falling food prices. New Zealand's March CPI will be announced next Wednesday.
Fitch Ratings has downgraded China’s long-term local-currency rating to ‘A+’ from ‘AA-‘ overnight, citing several “underlying structural weakness” in the country’s economy, including rapid credit expansion from both banks and non-bank institutions. But the rating agency kept the country’s foreign-currency rating unchanged at ‘A+.’
Yesterday's report in New York of a dramatic rise in Alcoa's reported profit may have an echo in New Zealand - profitability in the aluminium industry is rising, although prices may not be yet.
The Kiwi dollar starts today even higher at 85.2 USc, its highest against the greenback since September 2011, 81.2 AUc, 84.6 Japanese yen which is up another 1 yen on the day, and our TWI is at yet another record post-float high of 78.36.
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