It is not in any corporate reporting calendar but Friday March 31 is the most important ‘event’ this week.

Is this an early canary whistling a different tune about the health of the US economic expansion?

The Reserve Bank of NZ has ended speculation of more rate cuts by leaving its official cash rate unchanged at 1.75%. In fact that rate won’t change for sometime unless the global economy suddenly sags.

A record proportion of big global investors reckon shares are overvalued, with the US leading the way as the most over-priced, Bank of America Merrill Lynch said on Tuesday.

Oops, where did that come from?

Property investors and investors in financial groups operating in the home loan market – especially the big four banks – had better start preparing for a crackdown in the next couple of months by key regulators (and the Federal Government) to try and stop the developing bubble in apartment buying by investors and the financing of the construction of those apartments from damaging the financial system and the wider economy.

Warren Buffett’s compensation for running Berkshire Hathaway rose 4% in 2016 to $US487,881 – not his base salary, but the higher cost of keeping the world’s second-richest person safe.

Wall Street’s performance on Friday night didn’t convince local punters and our market will start in the red after the ASX 200 futures contract ended down 13 points early Saturday.

More contradictory signals from China’s property market – earlier last week we learned that monthly sales rose noticeably in January and February and January, and the pace of investment picked up.

A quiet week ahead for markets as they continue to assess the impact of the Fed’s rate rise and the increasing instability of the Trump administration.

Gold had its best week in six after the Fed finally lifted interest rates midweek and suggested an unchanged forecast for between two and three more this year (which won’t happen), copper and silver rose as well and even oil prices managed a tiny rise as the US dollar slid against most major currencies.

As a guide to what’s happening in the jobs market, the February employment data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics was next to useless.

US markets, including gold and oil, bounced higher in the wake of the US Fed’s much anticipated decision to raise its key interest rate for a third time in a decade.

No let up in the downward pressure on global oil prices overnight Tuesday with another round of losses.

China’s steel output is one of the key indicators Australian investors look at each month to assess how our biggest export market is travelling.

Bank shareholders should be aware that the country’s two main financial regulators are looking to crack down again on investor lending for housing, especially in the apartment sector.