Here's my summary of the key events from overnight, with news the size of Apple's tax avoidance in Ireland has been revealed.
But first in the US, consumer confidence jumped to an 11-month high in August, with households upbeat about their job market. Related indexes measuring the "present situation" and "future expectations" also showed similar healthy gains.
This came as data for house price gains showed continuing rises.
In Shanghai, fear-of-missing-out has driven homebuyers to rush to buy about 5,300 apartments since Friday, after their news media reported that the city's policymakers are mulling housing price curbs.
In Hong Kong, the housing price situation seems to be going the other way. Prices there are expected to fall "another 10%" after having already fallen more than that since March.
In Japan, their jobless rate fell to 3% in July, the lowest for 21 years, despite the country's stagnant economy. Separate data showed household spending fell by less than expected in the month.
In Europe, the EU has decided that Ireland granted undue tax benefits of up to €13 bln to Apple. They say this is illegal under EU state aid rules, because it allowed Apple to pay substantially less tax than other businesses. Ireland is now required to recover the illegal aid. Apple says it will appeal. The Irish Government doesn't seem to want the job of collecting it. The US claims the EU tax system is trying to tax value created in other jurisdictions.
Staying in Europe, their index of economic confidence slipped in August.
In Australia, the pressures to have a Royal Commission into banker behaviour is coming to a head. The Labor opposition plus most 'cross-bench' MPs want one and there are indications some few government back bench MPs might side with them. To avoid that, the Government is planning its own 'crackdown' on the basis that its approach will bring swifter redress and be cheaper to get going. Banks look likely to lose out either way.
In New York, the UST 10yr yield has eased back overnight to 1.57%.
The oil price is down fractionally. The US benchmark price just under US$46.50 a barrel, while the Brent benchmark just under US$48.50 a barrel.
The gold price is also lower, down by US$13 to US$1,310/oz.
The New Zealand dollar is mirroring the softer trend, mainly because the US dollar is strengthening. It’s now at 72.1 US¢, 96.1 AU¢ and 64.7 euro cents. The TWI index is now at 75.7.
If you want to catch up with all the local changes from yesterday, we have an update here.
The easiest place to stay up with event risk today is by following our Economic Calendar here ».
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