By Dan Bell
The NZD/USD opens under 0.82 this morning down over 150 points from recent 6 month highs.
The US Dollar is stronger against most major currencies after better than expected US data overnight.
The ADP National Employment Report showed the private sector added 162,000 jobs last month. US ISM non-manufacturing rose from 53.7 to 55.1 in Sep - the highest since March, showing more momentum in the U.S. services sector.
Global stocks have had a quiet night with the S&P 500 currently trading up 0.13%.
Commodities are mostly weaker - oil prices have been slammed falling over 4% which has US crude under $88.00 a barrel this morning.
Weaker PMI numbers from Europe have added to concerns the global economy continues to stall which will weigh on oil demand.
The AUD has been one of the worst performing currencies this week and has traded under 1.02 overnight against the USD. AU Trade Balance numbers yesterday showed a deficit nearly 3 times larger than expected giving further reason for investors to pare back their long AUD positions.
The NZD is weaker against most major cross rates and opens at current indicative mid rates: 0.8005 AUD, 0.6340 EUR, 0.5090 GBP, 64.25 JPY and 0.8085 CAD.
Not much to report on the local front today. From Australia we get Retail Sales and Building Approvals.
Tonight will be interesting with the ECB and BoE announcing monetary policy.
Tomorrow morning we also get the most recent Fed meeting minutes ahead of Friday’s main event the US Employment Situation Report which includes the Non Farm Payrolls number.
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Dan Bell is the senior currency strategist at HiFX in Auckland. You can contact him here
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