HiFX Morning Update, May 15 2017

The NZDUSD opens at 0.6855 (mid-rate) this morning.

Markets traded sideways during our trading day on Friday as investors took a breather ahead of Friday night’s US economic data releases.

The USD came under pressure as both retail sales and inflation data fell short of economist’s estimates. The Commerce Department retail sales report showed retail sales climbed by 0.4% in April, economists had expected a 0.6% increase, while the price index rose by 0.2% in April after falling 0.3% in March. Economists had forecast a 0.3% increase in the index. The news was not all bad for the dollar with consumer sentiment in the U.S showing a modest improvement in May. The University of Michigan report said the preliminary reading on the consumer sentiment index for May increased to 97.7, after April’s final reading of 97.0. The index had been expected to inch up to 97.3.

Key domestic data releases for the NZD this week will be this morning’s quarterly retail sales report which is expected to show an increase of 1.1% during Q1 after reporting a 0.8% gain in Q4, while on Wednesday morning the latest GDT auction followed by our quarterly PPI data release should dictate direction for the NZD.

Global equity markets closed out the week mixed- Dow -0.11%, S&P 500 -0.14%, FTSE +0.66%, DAX +0.47%, CAC +0.41%, Nikkei -0.39%, Shanghai +0.72%.

Gold prices edged higher on Friday closing out the week at $1,228 an ounce .WTI Crude Oil prices traded sideways on Friday closing out the week with a modest 3.5% gain at $47.84 a barrel.

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