Safe haven demand to set the tone this week

Kia ora.

Welcome to Monday’s Economy Watch where we follow the economic events and trends that affect Aotearoa/New Zealand.

I'm David Chaston and this is the international edition from Interest.co.nz.

Today we lead with news Trump has got his distraction war, flooding the recent zone of poor news with an adventure he has created. Business eyes will be on how the financial markets react. (Others can watch the politics.)

So far, the equity futures markets have the S&P500 virtually unchanged (+0.1%), the US Treasury 10 year down -8 bps from their Friday close, and the USD (DXY) lower from Friday, but little-changed from a week ago. Oil prices will be closely watched, because the Strait of Hormuz has been closed by Iran. So far they are up 3% in off-market weekend reactions. Gold is up modestly so far too, but silver and platinum have jumped sharply, both gaining about +6% and both heading back toward the late-January peaks.

Spreads, or the premium companies must pay over a risk-free US Treasury, are at their highest since November for investment grade companies, and their the highest since December for those with a sub-investment grade rating.

But first, looking ahead this week, there is a raft of second tier data released locally, including some trade, and more importantly mortgage markets data. And we will get the Q4-2025 RBNZ Dashboard data, exposing the winners and losers among the local banks.

In Australia. it will be all about the Q4-2025 GDP, and household spending data this week

In the US on the economic front, they will have their non-farm payrolls report for February at the end of the week. We will get independent ISM PMIs and retail sales updated too.

In China, data will be relatively light as Beijing insists its news attention is on their next five year plan meetings.

But there will be PMIs out in China, as well as Canada, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Trade data are also scheduled from Indonesia, while inflation figures will be released in Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, South Korea, Vietnam, and Taiwan. Additionally, the Malaysian central bank is set to announce its latest monetary policy decision.

Over the weekend, the US PPI release shows that inflation has their producer prices firmly in its grip. Year-on-year this measure of industrial inflation wasn't too special at +2.9%, but core PPI was up +3.4% and the jump in January from December of +0.5% grabbed analysts' attention. Tariff-taxes are driving the increases as importers refuse to absorb some of these costs anymore.

Meanwhile some of this also showed up in the Chicago PMI for February. The Chicago Business Barometer was expected to ease lower. Rather it leapt into a strong expansion. It was so different to the data around it on the ground had suggested, it might be wise not to jump to any early conclusions on the gain.

And let's not forget the growing worries about 'cockroaches'. Concerns about the risks of private credit are not going away just because they are overshadowed by geopolitical tensions. In fact, those tensions will bring risk aversion and likely magnify the private credit risks. Investors who want out could trigger something big.

Across the Pacific, Korean exports turned in another gigantic result in February, showing that the extraordinary January was no fluke. Their exports were +29.0% that a year ago at a record US$67.5 bln for the month, and this was even though there were three fewer working days and the Lunar New Year holiday break. It is another extraordinary result. Both the US and China saw imports from Korea rise more than +30% for each.

In China, we should keep an eye on their car industry. They have returned from holiday with a large excess of unsold stock and are responding with promotions that feature heavy discounting. This may trigger a reckoning for many carmakers, large or small. Like their property industry, it could have wide-ranging implications.

And staying in China, according to estimates by China International Capital Corp, roughly ¥75 tln (NZ$18 tln) in household term deposits will mature this year, and most of it had maturities of one year or longer. Most will be reinvested, but with such enormous flows, even small amounts diverted (to say gold, or higher risk/return options) will have very important impacts.

The UST 10yr yield is now just on 3.96%, down -6 bps from this time Saturday. 

The price of gold will start today up +US$93 from yesterday at US$5278/oz. Silver is up +US$5.50 at US$93/oz today. When global markets reopen, it will be unsurprising to see these prices rise sharply.

American oil prices are up almost +US$2 at just on US$67/bbl, while the international Brent price is now just under US$73/bbl. But when global markets reopen today, expect a sharp rise as well.

The Kiwi dollar is unchanged against the USD from Saturday, still just on 60 USc. Against the Aussie we are unchanged at 84.3 AUc. We are little-changed against the yen as well. Against the euro we are holding at 50.7 euro cents. That all means our TWI-5 starts today basically the same as Saturday, still just on 63.4.

The bitcoin price starts today at US$66,168 and up +0.7% from this time Saturday. Volatility over the past 24 hours has been moderate, also at just over +/- 2.3%.

You can get more news affecting the economy in New Zealand from interest.co.nz.

Kia ora. I'm David Chaston and we’ll do this again tomorrow.