The NZDUSD opens at 0.7055 (mid-rate) this morning.
With the exception of the Australian Dollar the NZD has been the worst performing currency over the past 24 hours. The NZDUSD traded to a low of 0.7052 and has traded a 99 point range or 1.4% range since 8am yesterday.
The fewest Americans in almost 44 years filed applications to collect unemployment benefits last week, indicating the job market continues to power forward.
Jobless claims fell by 19,000 to 223,000 in the week ended Feb. 25, the fewest since March 1973 and exceeding the lowest projection in a Bloomberg survey of economists, a report from the Labor Department showed overnight. The median forecast called for 245,000 applications. The weekly decline, which was the largest this year, shows employers are keeping dismissals at a minimum as demand remains steady and the labor market stays tight.
Federal Reserve policy makers will take persistent job growth and falling separations into consideration at their monetary policy meeting later this month.
The FOMC Statement, Rate Announcement will be released at 7am Thursday 16th March and Press Conference is scheduled for 7:30am.
Tonight’s data releases include PMI Services for GBP, Spain, Germany, Italy and France; EUR Retail Sales and for the US – ISM Non-manufacturing PMI, Fed Chair Yellen speaks, FOMC Members Fischer, Evans and Powell all speak.
Global equity markets are mixed: Dow -0.26%, S&P -0.39%, FTSE -0.01%, DAX -0.06%, CAC +0.06%, Nikkei +0.88%, Shanghai -0.52%.
Gold prices are down another 1% currently trading at $1,233 an ounce, WTI Crude Oil has dropped 2.3% trading at $52.65 a barrel.
Current indicative rates:
NZDUSD 0.7055 -1.3%
NZDEUR 0.6716 -0.8%
NZDGBP 0.5751 -0.9%
NZDJPY 80.77 -0.5%
NZDAUD 0.9327 0.2%
NZDCAD 0.9452 -0.9%
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Dan Bell is the senior currency strategist at HiFX in Auckland. You can contact him here »
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