The NZDUSD opens at 0.7440 (mid-rate) this morning.
The USD is down 1.3% this week to date, and down 300 points off the 0.7740 highs set on the 29th April, just 7 business days ago.
The weekly Jobless Claims in the US edged up to 265,000, an increase of 3,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level of 262,000.
The market consensus was a number of 280,000. While the number was slightly better than last week it remains close to the 15 year low set in the previous week.
For the Euro-zone - German Factory Orders were up 0.9% in March offsetting February’s 0.9% fall. This supports hopes of a moderate economic growth in Q1. Germany's growth is set to outpace overall euro area growth, with GDP seen rising 1.9 percent.
Global equity markets are mixed - Dow 0.50%, Nikkei -1.23% Shanghai -1.23%, FTSE -0.67% DAX +0.51% CAC -0.29%.
Gold prices are down $7.5 to $1182.50. Oil (WTI) is flat overnight currently trading at $60.93.
The current indicative mid-rates are:
NZDUSD 0.7430
NZDEUR 0.6595
NZDGBP 0.4870
NZDJPY 89.00
NZDAUD 0.9405
NZDCAD 0.9015
There are no domestic data releases today.
Overnight data: US Non-Farm Employment Change and US Unemployment Rate.
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Dan Bell is the senior currency strategist at HiFX in Auckland. You can contact him here »
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