HiFX morning Update, February 25 2019

The NZDUSD opens at 0.6841 (mid-rate) this morning.

Risk appetite increased late on Friday after US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin announced that Chinese negotiators would extend their visit to Washington in an effort to secure a deal ahead of this week’s tariff increase deadline.

President Trump during a meeting with Chinese Vice Premier Liu stated that US and Chinese officials are making "a lot of progress" and that there was a "very good chance" the US and China could reach a long-term trade deal.

The Brexit saga continues with UK Prime Minister Theresa May delaying Wednesday’s parliamentary vote on her proposed Brexit deal as she attempts to renegotiate terms with Brussels. May has now rescheduled the so-called meaningful vote for some time before the 12th March with the UK needing a deal in place before the March 29th deadline. The proposed amendment to extend the Article 50 process vote tabled by Labour MP Yvette Cooper is still scheduled for later this week.

Key domestic drivers for the NZD this week will be this morning’s quarterly retail sales report along with Thursday’s ANZ business confidence data release. NZ’s Q4 retail sales are expected to increase by 0.5% following on from Q3’s flat result, core retail sales which exclude autos are expected to increase by 0.8%.

Global equity market closed out the week higher, - Dow +0.70%, S&P 500 +0.64%, FTSE +0.16%, DAX +0.30%, CAC +0.38%, Nikkei -0.18%, Shanghai +1.91%.

Gold prices were little changed on Friday, closing out the week at $1,327 an ounce. WTI Crude Oil prices pushed higher on Friday rising 1.6% closing at $57.75 a barrel

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