HiFX Morning Update, April 24, 2018

HiFX Morning Update, April 24, 2018

The NZDUSD opens at 0.7148 (mid-rate) this morning.

Commodity currencies including the NZD have declined amid broad USD strength on the back of rising US bond yields. The 10-Year US Treasury note threatened to break through 3% overnight topping out at 2.996%, its highest level in four years.

This morning the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported existing home sales in the US increased well ahead of expectations in the month of March. Following on from a 3.0% increase in sales in February, NAR announced sales were up a further 1.1% in March. Economists had expected existing home sales to inch up by 0.2%

There was better news for the EUR overnight with results from IHS Markit showing both French and German private sector growth expanded at a faster pace than forecast in April. France’s composite output index rose to 56.9 in April from 56.3 in March (exp 55.9) while Germany’s unexpectedly increased to 55.3 in April up from 55.1 in March (exp 54.8)

The highlight of our trading day ahead of tomorrow’s ANZAC day holiday will be the Australian quarterly inflation data release due out at 13:30. Economists are forecasting CPI to increase by 0.5%, with the trimmed mean (excludes the most volatile 30% of items) also expected to increase by 0.5%.

Global equity markets remain mixed- Dow -0.25%, S&P 500 -0.22%, FTSE +0.42%, DAX +0.25%, CAC +0.48%, Nikkei -0.33%, Shanghai -0.11%

Gold prices are down 0.8%, trading at $1,323 an ounce. WTI Crude Oil prices are holding steady at $68.27 a barrel.

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