Here's my summary of the key news the weekend in 90 seconds at 9 am, including news of a bank failure in South Africa.
But first, on Saturday, China’s July consumer price inflation came in at +2.3% and well remained below their government’s +3% goal, and factory-gate deflation extended its declining run to 29 consecutive months, coming in at -0.9%, suggesting policy makers still have room for monetary easing amid a lack of pressure on prices. Chinese consumers are not yet driving their economy.
Having said that, the latest consumer confidence survey in China does indicate a growing positive mood in the country.
And in neighbouring Hong Kong, home prices hit a new all-time record as volumes in their housing markets returned.
In banking news, a specialist South African bank is in strife and is now under the protection of the South African central bank. It needs to raise significant capital and other local banks have agreed to underwrite the capital raising. The bank’s troubles stem from its SAR 9 billion (NZ$1 bln) acquisition of a furniture retailer in 2008, which has prompted losses and write downs after sales dropped. The bank doesn’t take deposits and makes small loans not backed by assets to low-income earners. Many of its customers are struggling to keep up with repayments amid rising unemployment and inflation.
Equity markets rose in final trading in New York on Saturday; but UST 10yr yields fell back again and ended the week at 2.42%. The US oil price is under US$98/barrel, Brent is under US$105/barrel. Gold is down slightly also and is now at US$1,311/oz.
We start the week with the NZ dollar basically unchanged. We are now at just over 84.6 USc, just under 91.3 AUc. The TWI is at 79.3.
If you want to catch up with all the changes on Friday we have an update here.
The easiest place to stay up with today's event risk is by following our Economic Calendar here »
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And in neighbouring Hong Kong, home prices hit a new all-time record as volumes in their housing markets returned.
Are fleeing Russian oligarchs putting a floor under this market as they did in London?
In what appears to be another sanctions-blowback, Russian oligarchs are de-dollarizing their cash holdings and shifting to Hong Kong Dollars. As Bloomberg reports, various Russian entities are shifting up to 40% of their cash to HKD. “Keeping money in Hong Kong dollars is essentially equivalent to keeping it in U.S. dollars because of the currency peg," notes BofA's Vladimir Osakovskiy, adding "for Russian companies it’s still much safer from the standpoint of sanctions." Read more
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