HiFX Morning Update, August 22 2017

HiFX Morning Update, August 22 2017

The NZDUSD opens at 0.7313 (mid-rate) this morning.

The NZD along with other commodity linked currencies had a solid end to the trading week on the back of rising commodity prices and an increase in risk appetite following the resignation of Trump’s controversial chief strategist Steve Bannon.

Base metal prices continue to trade at multi year highs and crude oil futures surged 3% on Friday after the EIA reported a fall in the US rig count. The report showed the US rig count fell by 3 last week following on from a decrease of 5 during the previous week.

Consumer sentiment in the US for the month of August showed significant improvement with the University of Michigan index rising from 93.4 in July to 97.6 in August. The index had been expected to edge up to 94.0.

The European Central Bank reported a fall in their current account surplus in June with the report showing the surplus fell to EUR21.2B down from EUR30.5B in May. This is the lowest it has been since August 2014.

The week ahead offers little in the way of local economic data releases with Thursday’s trade balance and today’s visitor arrivals and credit card spending likely to have little impact on the currency.

Global equity markets closed out the week in negative territory - Dow -0.35%, S&P 500 -0.18%, FTSE -0.86%, DAX -0.31%, CAC -1.16%, Nikkei -1.18%, Shanghai +0.01%.

Gold prices fell 0.4% on Friday closing out the week at $1,284 an ounce. WTI Crude Oil prices spiked 3.0% on Friday pushing prices up to $48.51 a barrel, for a weekly loss of 0.6%.

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