HiFX Morning Update, May 7 2018

The NZDUSD opens at 0.7025 (mid-rate) this morning.

Friday’s US employment data sent mixed signals to the market with the USD posting modest gains against all its rivals.

The US Labour Department reported the non-farm payroll employment climbed by 164K jobs in April well below economist’s estimates of an increase of 192k jobs, while at the same time the unemployment rate fell to 3.9% after holding steady at 4.1% for the past six months. Economists had expected the rate to edge down to 4.0%.

Euro-zone economic activity continues to expand at a reasonable pace IHS Markit reporting its composite output index inched down to 55.1 in April following on from March’s 55.2 reading. A reading above 50.0 signals expansion.

Euro-zone retail sales disappointed with data from Eurostat showing retail sales inched up 0.1% m/m in March, following a 0.3% increase in February and well below the forecast 0.5% increase.

The key domestic drivers for the NZD this week will be tomorrow’s quarterly Inflation Expectations and Thursday morning’s RBNZ monetary policy statement.

Global equity markets finished the week mixed, - Dow +1.39%, S&P 500 +1.28%, FTSE +0.86%, DAX +1.02%, CAC +0.26%, Nikkei -0.16%, Shanghai -0.32%.

Gold prices edged higher on Friday up 0.1%, closing out the week at $1,321 an ounce down 0.7% on the week. WTI Crude Oil prices pushed higher on Friday, up 1.6% to close out the week at $69.72 a barrel, having gained 1.9% on the week.

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