HiFX Morning Update, May 1 2017

HiFX Morning Update, May 1 2017

The NZDUSD opens at 0.6860 (mid-rate) this morning.

Markets were subdued going into month-end, (and for many a bank holiday weekend) on Friday with both currency and equity markets showing little reaction to a raft of economic data releases.

On the whole UK, Euro-zone, and US economic data releases all fell short of expectations. The release of flash/advanced quarterly GDP estimations for all three regions disappointed with the UK and Euro-zone readings falling just short of expectations, up 0.3% Vs 0.4%, while the US advanced GDP was particularly disappointing increasing by 0.7% in Q1 well short of the forecast 1.3% growth, following on from a stellar 2.1% reading in the fourth quarter.

The week ahead offers plenty in the way of both domestic and international data releases with Tuesday night’s GDT auction, Wednesday’s quarterly employment data and Friday’s inflation expectations report the pick of the domestic data releases. On the international data front we have monetary policy statements out of the RBA and the US Federal Reserve as well as the French Presidential elections to look forward to.

Global equity markets closed out the week slightly lower- Dow -0.19%, S&P 500 -0.19%, FTSE -0.46%, DAX -0.05%, CAC -0.08%, Nikkei -0.29%, Shanghai +0.08%.

Gold prices were down 1.6% over the course of the week closing on Friday at $1,267 an ounce .WTI Crude Oil was little changed on Friday closing out the week below $50 at $49.33 a barrel.

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