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Australia

The Australian Dollar has been the weakest performing currency this week with it losing ground against all the major currencies, this includes the New Zealand Dollar. Wage Price Index released at the expected 0.6% growth for the quarter to June but remains subdued with the yearly figure still at a mediocre 2.1% with this being just over of the 1.8% recorded for the same time last year. Unemployment numbers have released better than expected Thursday with the official unemployment dropping to an unexpected 5.30% cancelling out the poor number of -3,900 people added to the Australian labour force. Markets were expecting around 15,000 but the poor number has been overlooked by the new unemployment rate. Aussie Dollar received a boost jumping 40 points against the greenback.

New Zealand

Local data events have been thin this week for the New Zealand Dollar with markets awaiting NZ Producer Price Index Friday. A mixed bag with currency strength the kiwi is marginally stronger against the Pound and Euro and surprisingly the Australian Dollar. The New Zealand Dollar is one of the first currencies to capitalise on sentiment linked geopolitical news but this week we have not seen anything to get excited on. Fears on financial contagion in Turkey have kept markets at low’s with the kiwi still looking heavy. Equity markets and commodities have all traded lower with Crude oil leading the way down over 3.00%. Read more

Market Overview:

World trade concerns continue to spook markets with investors worried about sentiment. Equity markets and risk related products traded steeply lower through to the close of the week with the DOW at 25,313, S & P 2,833 and the Nasdaq at 7,841.87. The US President seems to be lapping up recent trade developments saying “they are good and easy to win” Every time a country (mainly China) retaliates he returns swinging with new tariffs.  There is much worse to come with Trump threatening another set of barriers which could in turn total the entire coverage off almost all US products from China. Trump end goal is to create more jobs in the US by increasing production. Decades of global trade negotiations and supply chains are at risk now. The Turkish Lira has dropped to record lows this year with it falling over 40%. Tensions between the US and Turkey are at boiling point with the detention of US pastor Andrew Brunson. The Turkish president told Turks to sell the US Dollar and buy the Lira. President Trump responded by authorising to double tariffs on steel and aluminium with aluminium now to be 20% and steel a whopping 50%. US Consumer Price Index rose in July at 0.2% with the underlying trend continuing to strengthen showing a steady increase in inflation pressures. In the 12 months to July CPI has increased 2.90%. The New Zealand Dollar was double teamed, not only has it pushed to fresh lows with rising trade tensions but was sold off heavily post the RBNZ meeting Thursday. Adrian Orr delivered a statement with a dovish tone saying the official cash rate move would not happen until well into mid 2020. The kiwi currently sits at the February 2016 low of 0.6570 with the trade weighted index at 71.35- pre cash rate announcement it was trading at 72.60. Trade talk will dominate markets this week again with data to release a little light over this week. Australian employment data and US building permits will be the highlights. Read more

Currency markets were all broadly weaker through the later stages of the week once risk markets were put on notice. The Federal Reserve held their benchmark rate unchanged at 2.00%. September 27 is the next Fed meeting which markets are expecting a hike to 2.25% with a strong possibility later in the year for another if economic data continues to print well. The Non-Farm Payroll figure came in light at 157K which surprised markets after 191K was predicted. The number for July is weaker but upward revisions to May and June totalling 59K jobs show overall its close to market predictions. The employment rate moved lower to 3.9% from 4% with wages rising 0.3% month on month inline with expectations. Trade tensions have surfaced once again with President Trump proposing a change from the 10% tariff on Chinese products to 25% on US 200B worth of Chinese products, this week this should continue to dominate markets. China have retaliated with a range of their own tariffs of 60B worth of US products with anywhere between 5% and 25% levy. The RBA and RBNZ both have Cash rate and monetary statements this week with no real expected changes to policy. The RBA could be cautious with their lingo around inflation given the recent disappointing second quarter figures. The RBNZ more than likely not change their current track with growth weakening and inflation rising, we could see further downside in the kiwi after the announcement. Brexit is still a mess with recent talks stalling. Theresa May still fears that talking up the possibility of a Brexit deal could spark a mass exodus of businesses from Great Britain. A no deal situation still remains a high chance. Read more

Market Overview:

Currency markets were all broadly weaker through the later stages of the week once risk markets were put on notice. The Federal Reserve held their benchmark rate unchanged at 2.00%. September 27 is the next Fed meeting which markets are expecting a hike to 2.25% with a strong possibility later in the year for another if economic data continues to print well. The Non-Farm Payroll figure came in light at 157K which surprised markets after 191K was predicted. The number for July is weaker but upward revisions to May and June totalling 59K jobs show overall its close to market predictions. The employment rate moved lower to 3.9% from 4% with wages rising 0.3% month on month inline with expectations. Trade tensions have surfaced once again with President Trump proposing a change from the 10% tariff on Chinese products to 25% on US 200B worth of Chinese products, this week this should continue to dominate markets. China have retaliated with a range of their own tariffs of 60B worth of US products with anywhere between 5% and 25% levy. The RBA and RBNZ both have Cash rate and monetary statements this week with no real expected changes to policy. The RBA could be cautious with their lingo around inflation given the recent disappointing second quarter figures. The RBNZ more than likely not change their current track with growth weakening and inflation rising, we could see further downside in the kiwi after the announcement. Brexit is still a mess with recent talks stalling. Theresa May still fears that talking up the possibility of a Brexit deal could spark a mass exodus of businesses from Great Britain. A no deal situation still remains a high chance. Read more

Markets were fairly flat Friday as investors waited for second quarter US economic growth data. As we expected we saw some much needed excitement with US economic growth increasing significantly for the second quarter as GDP rose by 4.1%. The interesting aspect of this number was that it’s the first time it’s published above 4.00% since 2014. The first quarter GDP increased 2.2%. President Trump will claim a win for Trump policies even though the figure could be revised lower. We will certainly hear more on this from Trump with several media outlets recapping on the comments made when Trump said he would create more than 3% economic growth in the economy when he was elected. Hear are a couple: “Democrat elites said President Trump’s policies would throw the US into recession”, “They said a 4.0% GDP rate was impossible. It was a thing of the past”. The New York Times- So we are very probably looking at a global recession, with no end in sight”. We are by no means on the Trump wagon here but one can’t ignore the USA is on schedule for their best economic year in well over a decade. The greenback ended the week higher than most of its counterparts with the US Dollar index up slightly to 94.73 after the GDP announcement. Only the EUR was stronger after Draghi delivered a confident future assessment of the Eurozone and Junkier defused any threat of possible trade tensions. Volatility in the currency markets will start to ramp up from Tuesday with a lot of continued focus on global protectionism with global trade. We also have a heap of economic calendar risk especially in the later stages of the week with several central bank decisions to release such as Bank of Japan (BoJ) today, Bank of England (BoE) Thursday with the vote expected to be 8-1 in favour of hiking to 0.75% and also the US Federal Reserve, which are not expected to hike rates this time around until the September meeting. To end the week if this wasn’t enough to rattle your cage we also have US Non-Farm Payroll early Saturday morning. We expect the New Zealand Dollar to retest 0.6760 this week. Read more

Australia

CPI Data released on the softer side representing 0.4% growth down from the 0.5% expected by markets. This makes the total for 2018 of 2.1% while the year on year rate is still ticking along at 2.2%. Most of the growth has been in fuel price strength, electricity and tobacco with clothing footwear and furniture having been weak. The Australian Dollar dipped to 0.7350 against the greenback but has since recovered after risk sentiment improved. The Aussie has be swayed by global developments with President Trump meeting with EU’s Juncker to work out a long term trade deal. How things play out with the impact with US and its impact on China is something the Aussie will remain sensitive to. In recent days the Australian Dollar has worked itself higher from 2018 lows.

New Zealand

With a lack of onshore economic data to release this week in New Zealand, we have seen global news dominate kiwi movement. Trade Balance Wednesday disappointed coming in at -113M versus 200M expected but surprisingly had little effect on the NZD. President Trump’s tweets have been the highlight of the week as we said earlier with the New Zealand Dollar drivers coming in the form of big picture macro themes. Commodities and equity prices improved with risk sentiment and the kiwi pushed north. The only currencies to value higher this week is the CAD and the AUD. Markets will continue to monitor updates on the global trade front, but for now the kiwi as a risk favoured currency will continue to benefit on positive headlines. Read more

Markets have turned yesterday to become risk averse again based on President Trump’s tweet which was aimed at the Iranian President- Rouhani and goes like this:- NEVER EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE. WE ARE NO LONGER A COUNTRY THAT WILL STAND FOR YOUR DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE & DEATH. BE CAUTIOUS. Fake news and “witch hunt” remarks have followed, The President intents to call a spade a spade and continue with his own personal agenda. The US Dollar Index has bounced off 94.20 over the weekend and pushed higher to 94.60 as Trump’s tweet weighed in on risk assets sending the index higher. The greenback has been the strongest currency this week and may continue to be for the next few days if “tweets” continue to pressure sentiment.  As US based equity and commodity based assets are weaker so to are the UK equity markets as Brexit concerns weigh down the British Pound. The Pound was off from 1.3250 late last week falling to 1.2950 before reversing some of these losses with is recovering back to 1.3130. The Lloyds Bank Investor Sentiment index which measures sentiment in asset classes such as equities and UK Properties has declined 7.2% from June 2018 to July 2018 with the most concerning aspect being property. Sentiment towards the UK Government and Govt Bonds has also been affected by Brexit uncertainty dropping over the last month. China has vowed to retaliate soon in response to President Trump’s 200B tariff threat on Chinese products. Even a great start to the second quarter US earnings season has not helped sentiment with more than 90% of US companies reporting surprises to the upside. The (ECB) European Central Bank will announce their cash rate Thursday with no change expected to monetary policy until well into mid 2019. With a reasonably light economic week on the cards direction is expected to be mainly driven by Presidential speak. The New Zealand Dollar remains range bound since late June trading both ways within a cent of 0.6800 against the US Dollar, this week we should see the same with only NZ Trade Balance on the docket. Read more

Australia

Yesterday’s Aussie June employment figure surprised to the upside, after several months of flat or negative figures – following what was on paper the longest uninterrupted stretch of jobs growth on record. The ABS data revealed that the Australian economies employment change far exceeded forecasts, adding just shy of 51k jobs in the month of June, expectations had been for 14K. However, the massive figure couldn’t shift the headline unemployment rate, which held at 5.4%, with the figure attributable to a kick-up in the participation rate. The numbers will be a relief for the RBA who have sited that interest rates can’t be shifted until a tighter labour market generates wage growth and thus higher inflation. The Aussie was pulled in different directions, on the one hand by the positive local data, and on the other the tense global backdrop. The AUD/USD saw a 0.7440 high after the release of the employment data, only to have the succumb to pressure overnight by a stronger USD. Also not helping the AUD were weaker commodity prices especially copper prices which dropped to 12 month low. The risk remains to the downside after the break of 0.7400 now looking to the next support level at 0.7330.

New Zealand

NZ markets have been choppy this week, as the softer CPI data saw little movement in the NZD. Later in the day however, the RBNZ released their own favoured measure of core inflation which was much higher. This saw the NZD surge up to the 0.6839 level. However it was unable to hold these higher levels and has spent the last few days drifting lower on the stronger USD and lack of follow up local economic data. While there is little case for a near-term rate hike, given the RBNZ’s view this week, we believe the market maybe underestimating the probability of a rate hike in the first half of 2019. Results from the Global Dairy auction were lower, but this saw little immediate impact on NZD values.  The NZD/USD is currently around 0.6740 with support still around 0.6720 and we look for a 0.6730 -0.6770 range to hold to close the week. Read more

Market Overview:

Markets closed the week on a more positive note, continuing to shrug off Trade war fears. This week begins on a mixed note and with Japan closed for a public holiday and as such equity volumes in Asian markets were lighter. Trade tensions have eased somewhat as officials in Beijing appeared to moderate their response to President Donald Trump’s tariff threats amid a slowing economy, falling stock market and weakening currency. Data released yesterday, showed China’s economic expansion slowed slightly from the previous quarter, with industrial output in June below estimates at 6% v’s 6.5%. However, China May GDP saw an increase of 1.8%, above the forecasted 1.6%. Also, with the earnings season ramping up, investors may get a greater understanding of how the start of the trade war is impacting corporate profitability. This week will see profit reports due from a raft of market heavyweights; Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, American Express, Netflix, Microsoft, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, Unilever, Johnson & Johnson and IBM. After a bumpy NATO meeting and UK visit by the US President, markets will also be keeping a weather eye on developments from the first summit between U.S. President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. This afternoon will see the release of RBA minutes from the last meeting and later tonight US Fed Chairman Powell delivers the semi-annual Monetary Policy Report to the Senate Banking Committee and answers lawmakers’ questions. Read more