HiFX Morning Update, May 15 2018

The NZDUSD opens at 0.6915 (mid-rate) this morning.

In the absence of any notable economic data releases currency markets have had a slow start to the week with the NZD the notable underperformer.

The NZD has been on the back foot since Thursday’s dovish Reserve Bank statement and has been unable to sustain any sort of rally.

The EUR received a boost overnight after European Central Bank policy maker Francois Villeroy de Galhau signalled that he expects bond purchases to end later this year and that the ECB could expect to hike rates in 2019. In an interview in Paris, the French central banker announced that inflation should accelerate in the coming months as underlying price pressures increase.

Direction during our trading day will be dictated by this afternoon’s China retail sales and industrial production data releases, while overnight tonight investors will look to the US retail sales before adding to their portfolios.

Global equity markets are mixed- Dow +0.25%, S&P 500 -0.04%, FTSE -0.18%, DAX -0.18%, CAC -0.02%, Nikkei +0.47%, Shanghai +0.34%.

Gold prices are little changed trading at $1,313 an ounce. WTI Crude Oil prices have edged higher, up 0.3% trading at $70.69 a barrel.

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