FX News

Market Overview:

Markets closed lower to end the week as investors took on less risk. Geopolitical issues affected currency markets with North Korea concerns rearing its ugly head once again. The on again off again June 12thmeeting between President Trump and Kim Jong seems to be back to track less than 24 hours after Trump’s decision to cancel it. The President initially upsetting Kim Jong Un after sending him a letter outlining his issues for cancelling. Kim Jong Un retaliated with a “nuclear to nuclear showdown” with the US. Trump released a statement saying “talks are very productive” and the summit could still take place on June 12. The minutes from the Fed meeting confirmed the broad view that they would be gradually increasing rates but reiterated growth in the economy would need to be a lot stronger to allow the Fed to hike faster than the prescribed current 0.25% per quarter. The US Dollar Index is trading at 94.00 just off the weekly high of 94.25 with equities stabilizing but they remain bullish. Crude oil has had a good run this year, but we think the downside is limited to around 67.00 which could be tested in the following weeks. With geopolitical problems such as Venezuela in play in a complete shambles, their production numbers will continue to decline over time. This will impact the associated currency the Canadian Dollar trading at levels around 1.3000 currently we may see further upside develop to 1.3600. The EURO gaped higher on the weekly open up 30 points to 1.1680 with the populist parties failing to form a government. Italy’s president Sergio Mattarella boycotted attempts to form western Europe’s first populist government so in time new elections may will be held. US monthly core durable goods released on Saturday NZ time at 0.9% well up on the expected 0.5% and last month’s 0.0% result pushing buyers into the greenback and showing a resilient demand for April. US Bank Holiday Monday kept markets quiet ahead of US Non-Farm Payroll figures later in the week. Locally we have ANZ Business confidence Wednesday and the G7 meeting taking place in British Columbia. Read more

Australia

The Australian Dollar (AUD) has remained fairly resilient over the week holding above the weekly open of 0.7520. Receiving a bounce late Wednesday during US session back to 0.7600 after RBA governor Lowe’s speech earlier suggested that the central bank would focus on rising Chinese debt levels and the effect this could have on the Australian Economy. The assistant governor Bullock is to speak later in the week in Amsterdam but until then markets will be hanging off every word spoken in regards to Trump and North Korea issues for guidance to further direction.

New Zealand

Wednesdays Trade Balance figures printed higher than expected at 263M with an expected surplus of 200M.  These figures were considerably better than the April figures which were -86k. April exports of NZD 5.05B come in higher than the estimated 4.85B. Fruit exports were among the best resulting in a rise of 51% to 615M, led by a rise in quantity of 61% in kiwifruit. Markets will be led by risk sentiment towards the end of the week, with prospects of the kiwi trading lower against its peers if a risk averse sentiment continues. Read more

Market Overview:

A stronger fiscal position was the key point from the New Zealand Budget last week read by the NZ finance Minister Grant Robertson. Health was the main winner receiving 360M in additional funding over the next 4 years. 100M was put aside for District Health Boards to call on for extra infrastructure including rebuilding aged hospitals. The New Zealand Dollar was stable throughout the reading but drifted lower towards the end the week against the greenback back to 0.6900. The US Dollar (USD) has continued its run pushing higher against all its rivals as the strongest performer now over the last two to three weeks. The US Dollar index naturally has climbed higher to 93.83 inching closer to the 101.00 of April 2017. Risk markets should do well for at least the first half of this week as the trade talks between the world’s two biggest countries China and the US have been halted. US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the US trade war with China is “on hold”. While they work on a larger picture trade deal they have agreed on a truce. This should fundamentally change the mood in the markets starting with the Asian equities as they are directly correlated. Steel and aluminum tariffs earlier this year developed into a complete shambles. The 10 year treasury yields are likely to fall from the seven year high of 3.13% achieved on Friday. Oil prices have been come down slightly from the high of around 72.40 (3.5 year high) last week, supported by falling Venezuelan production and solid growth demand and tensions coming from an unsettled Middle East. President Trump has ordered a fresh investigation as to any FBI/DOJ infiltration that was done during the presidential campaign for political purposes. This includes the Obama administration. This is a side-line to the ongoing investigation as to whether Russia interfered with the 2016 campaign and if the President was seen to unlawfully obstruct the enquiry. The Royal wedding between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle went off without a hitch, the reception was a “hell of a bash”, James Corden was MC with Elton John banging out the classics. All and all it seemed extremely well organised showcasing what the Poms are capable of. Read more

Australia

The Australian Dollar took on losses after the RBA meeting minutes suggesting the same rhetoric. Currently holding at support levels against the crosses after Chinese data published down. Chinese Retails Sales came in at 9.4% missing expectations of 10.00% and Industrial production came in at 7% a tad higher than the predicted 6.3%. The Australian Dollar may remain under pressure in the coming weeks after the RBA’s dovish view seeps into market sentiment with rates expected to remain unchanged for a long period. Overseas risks are the main concern overseeing a general pessimistic view.

New Zealand

The New Zealand Budget – called the “Rebuild Budget” was perceived as being positive for the New Zealand people. The kiwi traded just above 0.6900 at the start of the Budget read by Finance Minister Grant Robertson. Budget surpluses are in store over the next 3 odd years with growth expected to be above current estimates- 2019 revised to 3.8% from 3.4% and 2020 revised to 3.00% from 2.9%. Health was the biggest winner receiving 3.2B in total funding with an additional 850M in capital spending over the next four years. The highlights: free GP visits will continue with more community card discounts: a govt surplus of 3.1B for 2019 is expected to rise to 7B in 2022: 100M is to be put aside for the next America’s Cup. A tax crackdown is expected to raise funds of 183M over the next 3 years with the “Amazon tax” to fall back on. US Dollar weakness across the board during the budget also contributed to the NZ Dollar spiking back above 0.6940, by the time the Budget has finished the kiwi was trading back at 0.6900 against the US Dollar. Read more

Market Overview:

With the US pulling from the Iran deal this has put pressure on European countries which still want the deal to stay in place. China, France, Russia, Britain and Germany all have expressed commitment to stay in the deal. Germany in particular has said they would try to persuade the US government to continue with it. On Sunday the US government threatened to bring about new sanctions on these countries who currently do business with Iran. The US are still hopeful that they and their allies could strike up a new deal with Iran. The US national security adviser John Bolton said a possible deal could be made but this depends on the “conduct of the other governments”. The withdraw by the US has raised the risk of further conflict in the Middle East with a lack of current stability there. Currency markets had an uneventful close the week, the US Dollar is still the currency of choice, then it’s a distant second to the Canadian Dollar. Crude Oil prices soured based on uneasiness with the Iran situation raising to a high of 71.71 before settling around 70.70 at the weekly close. The US Dollar Index spiked to 92.55 showing the wide ranging support for the greenback. Equities remain strong as well with the DOW index coming off a weekly low of 24200 to close around 24830. The RBA kept the benchmark rate unchanged at 1.5% extending its record breaking run and the Bank of England (BoE) left their benchmark cash rate unchanged at 0.50% in a 2-7 vote as markets expected, although the market saw the BoE comments as generally dovish after the pricing out a rate hike for 2018. This Thursday we have the NZ Budget, this will set the tone for the NZ Dollar for a while to come. With business sentiment at a low since the Labour government took office Ardern is mindful of this while the budget will aim to change people’s perception that the country’s economic tender situation is a little more rosy. We can expect to see a homeless package of $100M come in along with a health boost of over 8B over the next 4 years. Read more

The New Zealand dollar is weaker this morning in the wake of the RBNZ’s Monetary Policy Statement. They left the cash rate unchanged at 1.75%
The NZD has fallen across the board, down around half a cent against the USD, and AUD.
The Central bank has slightly downgraded their forecasted inflation rate in June 2019 to 1.6% from 1.8% prior. They said they expect to keep the OCR (Official Cash Rate) at this expansionary level for a considerable period of time.

Market Overview:

On the 2nd of April 2015 an agreement was put into place between Iran and a group of super power countries. The agreement essentially was to put in place with limitations to Iran producing nuclear weapons. In exchange the 6 countries involved Russia, France, China, UK, US and Germany would lift economic sanctions. President Trump has come forward recently and stated he would not support such an agreement as Iran has broken the agreement by not allowing international access to inspectors among other reasons. He has called for new sanctions on Iran and has requested congress to instigate changes. Iran’s foreign policy head Federica Mogherini has said there has not been any violation of the agreement and stated the agreement could not be negotiated. Over the week we will watch how things develop here but news alone around this could rattle markets and has the makings off investors reaching for safe haven products. Non-Farm Payroll figures disappointing to the downside Saturdays morning coming in with an increase of 164,000 for April but down on the expected 190,000 number. The US unemployment rate dropped to 3.9% from 4.00% initially increasing the value of the US Dollar but markets soon retraced to pre- announcement levels across the board. The US Dollar index remains strong at 92.55 with risk sentiment benefiting equities and commodity markets all closing up over 1%. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) will announce their cash rate Thursday with no change from 1.75% expected. The Bank of England (BOE) will also announce their cash rate Thursday night NZ time and will no doubt leave the rate at 0.5% unchanged. A couple of weeks back we were pricing in a 85% certainty of a hike to 0.75% but the statistic is now under 10% with a round of disappointing economic data showing struggles with falling inflation statistics.  Read more

Market Overview:

US President Donald Trump threatened to close down the federal Government in September this year if congress didn’t approve further funding for his wall to be built on the border of Mexico. Trump will no-doubt run into issues when his idea won’t be supported by fellow Republicans. He signed a Trillion Dollar spending bill which will keep the government funded through to the end of September 2018. You will remember how the government briefly shut down in January 2018 over immigration differences then. The US Dollar has surged of late with home sales and services PMI both supportive publishing well above expectations earlier helping the US Dollar to advance over all the main G10 currencies. Everything of note recently has published well for the Americans including upside on inflation which should lead the Federal Reserve to hike rates three more times this year. The next announcement is this Thursday morning NZ time along with the usual monetary statement. Consensus is that the cash rate will for now stay at 1.75%. The US Dollar index firmly rejected a 92.00 handle late last week along with the 10 year yield coming off its four year high of 3.035% to close the week at 2.96%. The Dow came off its high of 24400 mid last week and could remain under pressure if the 10 year US bond rises further.  The US cannabis index jumped more than 15% the biggest one-day gain of the year based on a shift in US cannabis policy. President Trump signed a letter in support of letting each US State decide how to regulate marijuana, in a statement protecting state cannabis rights. This could send cannabis stocks soaring to all-time highs. The Marijuana Index is currently trading at 88.81 and has setup to potentially be one of the best products in 2018 to invest in. This week we have NZ unemployment rate publishing which should offer the NZD support above crucial 0.7000 against the greenback if last month’s drop of 0.2% is anything to go off. Brexit news out overnight is suggesting a deal to exit the EU is becoming less likely with the Cross party amendment passed with support of 19 Tory Rebels winning by a majority of 91 votes. Ministers have warned that should government vote against the deal by negotiators, Britain would leave the bloc with no agreement. Read more

Market Overview:

Wall street closed last week down around 1% with tech stocks underperforming. Performance so far this week has been somewhat underwhelming as well with indices failing to stage any sort of recovery. Equities are not being helped by interest rates increases, with the US 10-year knocking of the door of 3%. It’s a massive level technically, and psychologically, and a break above 3% may well see quick move to 3.25% develop. It would also provide confirmation in many trader’s eyes, that bonds are now in a long-term bear market. That’s something the stock market should be very concerned about. News over the weekend that North Korea has suspended its Nuclear programme has been welcomed, albeit with a healthy dose of scepticism. It remains to be seen if Kim Jong Un is simply looking to gain concessions, only to restart the programme over the coming years, or if he genuinely wants a better relationship with the rest of the world. But from a geo-political point of view, it’s step in the right direction.

Australia

The Australian dollar (AUD) struggled last week against most other currencies, although it did outperform the New Zealand dollar (NZD). The key release last week was Australian Employment Change that printed below forecast at +4.9k. This week the focus is firmly on inflation data due out in a few hours’ time. The market is looking for a quarterly increase of 0.5%, down a touch from the prior quarters 0.6% result. That would put the year on year rate of inflation at 1.85%. That is below the RBA’s 2-3% target, which has been the case for more than 2 years now. The RBA expect underlying inflation to slowly climb back to 2% over the next couple of years. With that sort of outlook, it would be foolish to expect the central bank to adjust the cash rate any time soon. Read more