HiFX Morning Update, August 7 2017

HiFX Morning Update, August 7 2017

The NZDUSD opens at 0.7409 (mid-rate) this morning.

The USD rebounded late on Friday following the release of this month’s US non-farm payrolls job report. The keenly awaited report showed employment in the US for the month of July increased by 209k jobs after spiking by an upwardly revised 231k jobs in June. The result was far better than economists’ forecasts, who had predicted employment to increase by 183k jobs in July following the 222k increase in jobs previously reported for June. The unemployment rate edged lower, down 0.15 to 4.3% from 4.4% in June.

The US Commerce Department trade balance report showed the trade deficit narrowed more than expected in June, with exports up 1.2% and imports edging down by 0.2%. The trade deficit narrowed to $43.6b in June from $46.4b in May. Economists had expected the deficit to narrow to $45b.

It’s a big data week for the NZD starting with this afternoon’s quarterly inflation expectations due to hit the tapes at 3:00pm while on Thursday morning retiring Reserve Bank Governor Graeme Wheeler will deliver his final monetary policy statement before deputy-governor Grant Spencer steps in as care-taker for six months while a long term replacement is found.

Global equity markets closed out the week mixed - Dow +0.03%, S&P 500 +0.18%, FTSE +0.49%, DAX +1.18%, CAC Closed%, Nikkei -0.38%, Shanghai -0.33%.

Gold prices fell 0.9% on Friday closing out the week at $1,257 an ounce .WTI Crude Oil prices gained 1.4% on Friday pushing prices up to $49.58 a barrel for a small weekly loss.

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