HiFX Morning Update - December 21 2015

HiFX Morning Update - December 21 2015

The NZDUSD opens higher this morning at 0.6726.

The US dollar turned in a mixed performance against its major rivals Friday night, and was little changed overall. There was little U.S. economic news to drive the direction of trading, and global economic data was also on the light side.

The most notable move is a decline in the USD against the Japanese Yen, after the Bank of Japan announced a new ETF program. The BoJ, governed by Haruhiko Kuroda, decided by an 8-1 majority vote on Friday to hold its target of raising the monetary base at an annual pace of about JPY 80 trillion.

Nonetheless, the BoJ said it will establish a new program for purchases of exchange-traded funds at an annual pace of about JPY 300 billion, in addition to the current program of ETF purchases.

US Flash Services PMI (a survey of purchasing managers in the service industry) was lower than the market expectation of 55.9 at 53.7. A reading above 50 indicates industry expansion.

The ECB announced the current account for the euro area. The current account surplus decreased to a seasonally adjusted EUR 20.4 billion in October from EUR 30.1 billion in September.
Spanish Elections see voters head to the polls in the most hotly contested election in recent history. With all four parties regularly polling above 15% little about the outcome is certain.

Global equity markets are lower: Dow -2.10%, S&P 500 -1.78%, FTSE -0.82%, DAX -1.21%, CAC -1.12%, Nikkei -1.90%, Shanghai -0.03%, Hang Seng -0.53%.

Gold is up at $1065 an ounce, Oil (WTI) continually lower at $34.73 a barrel.

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