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Copper hit its highest level in 20 months, nickel is around a two year high, oil traded at the highest it has been for 17 months and the prices of other commodities were a bit stronger after a solid pre-Easter run up.

Speculation about an imminent move in the value of the Renminbi has intensified amid rising trade tensions between the US and China.

In Australia, the focus will be on the Reserve Bank’s interest rate decision today and the jobs data on Thursday.

Australian housing remains very expensive, but the AMP’s chief economist, Dr Shane Oliver, says that’s being supported by an undersupply (as we saw with yesterday’s fall in building approvals). Expensive housing & high household debt levels are a risk but in the absence of higher unemployment, much higher interest rates or a big supply increase, a US style collapse in Australian house prices is unlikely.  

Expectations of another rate rise at next Tuesday’s Reserve Bank board meeting might have to be tempered after official data yesterday revealed sluggish retail sales and another down month for building approvals.

A blip, or a sign that Japan’s economic rebound from the depths of the 2009 recession, might be running short of oomph?

We could be facing a series official interest rate rises over the next few months that end up being quicker than previously thought.

In Australia, the focus will be on data for retail sales, building approvals and private credit as these will be the last major data releases ahead of the RBA’s next board meeting tomorrow week, after the Easter break.

Commodities might face a difficult week if those fears on US bond yields and the economy collide.

So will the Dow reach the 11,000 mark this week ahead of the surprise release of the March employment and unemployment data on Good Friday, US time?

China has made another move to try and control property and land speculation.

Steel is now the hottest part of the Chinese economy, it’s creating billions of dollars of business for Australian iron ore and coking coal exporters, generating a rising level of corporate activity, not to mention exploration.

Solid signs of an economic rebound from across the Tasman as the NZ economy saw its best growth for two years in the December quarter of 2009.

Some of the headlines suggested the Reserve Bank yesterday warned of a bubble in housing, and on first reading some of the comments in a speech by Assistant Governor, Phil Lowe its head of economics and in the first Financial Stability Report for 2010, could be taken that way.

Japan’s export growth jumped 45.3% in February from the same month in 2009, driven by surging demand from Asia and China, with help from growing demand from elsewhere.  

Australia has another huge LNG contract, in fact the biggest yet.

No wonder demand for iron ore is rising rapidly, and prices even faster.