Finance

GLOBAL MARKETS:  Another quiet session overnight with sentiment mixed and little in the way of key macro events to provide market direction. US fiscal cliff negotiations continue with President Obama rejecting the latest Republican counter-offer of US$800bn in reduced revenues. On the data front, the New York ISM surprised to the upside in November. US equities were a touch weaker ahead …

Fitch Ratings has affirmed New Zealand Local Government Funding Agency Limited’s (LGFA) Long-Term Local-Currency Rating at ‘AA+’ and Long-Term Foreign-Currency Rating at ‘AA’. Fitch has also affirmed its Short-Term Foreign- and Local-Currency Ratings at ‘F1+’. The Outlook on the Long-Term Ratings is Stable. At the same time, Fitch has affirmed the senior unsecured bonds at AA+. The affirmation reflects the …

GLOBAL MARKETS:  It was a rather lacklustre overnight session for markets. A positive start from yesterday’s sentiment that the US fiscal negotiations would be sewn up by Christmas faded as senior Democrat spokesperson, Chris van Hollen said they are “not close to a deal”. Republican US House Speaker John Boehner echoed similar sentiment, saying there had been “no substantive progress” on …

Underlining just how much in thrall of Washington global financial markets are right now, US stocks and the euro sold off after U.S. House Speaker and senior Republican John Boehner said there had been “no substantive progress” in talks to avoid the fiscal cliff. Boehner made the comments after speaking with President Barack Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, saying …

New Zealand shares edged up to a new five-year high as Sky Network Television surprised investors with a special dividend and Tower said it would return capital to shareholders after the sale of its medical insurance business. The NZX 50 Index rose 4.61 points, or 0.1 percent, to 4016.77, the highest since the start of January 2008. Within the index, …

Jerry Seib on The News Hub looks at four ways leverage has tilted–slightly but perceptibly–toward President Obama in the current budget showdown with Congress. Seib points out any negotiator will tell you that the key in a bargaining session is knowing at the outset who has leverage, and where it comes from. “So it is in the great deficit-cutting showdown …

U2’s Bono sits down with World Bank President Jim Young Kim to talk about what’s needed to end poverty. Bono estimates that the billions of dollars of tax hikes and potential funding cuts in the US could affect  275,000 people and lead to around 65,000 deaths.  The figures come from the American Foundation for AIDS Research. Bono said based on …

China Investment Corp – is in talks with New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra Co-Operative Group about investing in its shareholder fund  – according to the Wall St Journal. The WSJ reported today that CIC, which manages a chunk of China’s massive foreign-exchange reserves, is considering investing in the Fonterra non-voting units later this month with its initial investment expected to …

An HSBC survey has revealed widespread confidence in the future of RMB as a major global trade and investment currency amongst mainland Chinese corporates. The vast majority (77%) of Chinese corporates surveyed expect one-third of all Chinese trade (US$2 trillion) to be conducted in RMB by 2015 (versus 10% in the year to date and 30% plan to use RMB for investment-related …

Australian Reserve Bank Governor Glenn Stevens kept the benchmark rate stable – currency and inflation were higher than expected. The global outlook had brightened. Australia still feeling the effects of the looser (read accomodative monetary policy) the RBA has waged. ANZ’s MORNING BRIEF EARLIER REPORTED: EVEN ODDS FOR A RBA RATE CUT ON MELBOURNE CUP DAY: The market is evenly priced for …