Finance News Update, what you need to know

WORLD FINANCE UPDATE:

The Australian dollar has fallen to a new three-month low after US employment growth figures came in much stronger than expected.

At 0700 AEDT on Monday, the local unit was trading at 69.65 US cents, down from 70.51 cents on Friday.

And the Australian share market looks set to open sharply lower after Wall street ended a volatile week with its worst five-day start to a year ever.

At 0645 AEDT on Monday, the share price index was down 80 points at 4,850.

ELSEWHERE:

NEW YORK - Oil has fallen for a fifth straight day, losing 10 per cent on the week, and Goldman Sachs says more losses are needed to force producers to cut supplies adequately to balance the glut and bleak demand outlook in the market.

BEIJING - China's consumer inflation edged up in December, while companies' factory-gate prices continued to fall, adding to concerns about growing deflation risks in the world's second-largest economy.

WASHINGTON - US consumers boosted their borrowing in November, as higher credit card spending partially offset slower growth in auto and student loans.

BERLIN - Volkswagen engineers have reportedly come up with a catalytic converter that could be fitted to around 430,000 cars in the United States as a fix for vehicles capable of cheating emissions tests.

LONDON - Asda, the British supermarket arm of US retailer Wal-Mart, will spend a further STG500 million pounds ($A1.04 billion) cutting prices, firing 2016's first shot in a price war that has raged for two years.

DETROIT - Some Tesla Motors vehicles will be able to park themselves without a driver inside with a software update beamed to customers this weekend.