90 at 9, Friday February 08, 2008

Welcome to interest.co.nz's morning briefing of what's news here and around the world. Everything you need to start the day in 90 seconds at 9'oclock.... Starting now With more bad economic news from the United States. Sales of used homes in the US were down almost a quarter in December on a year ago. The numbers on the dole in America hit a 2 and a half year high. And retail sales at key chains such as Wal-Mart and Target were below expectations. This can only mean US interest rates are likely to fall again. This would further widen the interest rate advantage New Zealand has over the US from its current 5.25%. The NZ dollar was well supported at 79 US cents in early trade. And in news that may be applauded investors burnt by the 15 finance company collapses since May 2006, Investors in troubled property management and financial services company Blue Chip Investments have lodged statutory demands for more than $315,000 against four associate companies run by directors and former directors. They include Jock Irvine and Mark Bryers. The Bank of England has cut its benchmark official interest rate by 25 basis points to 5.25%, increasing New Zealand's interest rate advantage over British rates to 3%. Britain's economy was slowing and credit conditions had tightened, the British central bank said.l Elsewhere, the European Central Bank reversed its view on the outlook for its monetary policy. ECB President Jean Claude Trichet signalled he was open to cutting interest rates in the Eurozone for the first time in 5 years. As recently as last month the ECB was saying the risks of inflation outweighed the risks of a recession and was hopeful growth in Asia and Europe would be enough to cushion the impact of slowing US growth. Again this all makes our interest rates and our currency more attractive. That was 90 seconds at 9 o'clock. I'm Bernard Hickey for interest.co.nz

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