XE Morning Update

The NZDUSD opens at 0.6517 (mid-rate) this morning.

Both the NZD and AUD have managed to withstand a fall in risk appetite brought about by Trump’s tariff threats.

Following on from Monday’s announcement that the US are about to restore tariffs on all steel and aluminium imported from Brazil and Argentina, Trump overnight, threatened to impose duties of up to 100% on $2.4 billion in French imports, including champagne and handbags after France implemented a new digital services tax against US companies including Google, Apple), Facebook, and Amazon.

The AUD pushed higher after the Reserve Bank of Australia kept its cash rate unchanged at yesterday’s final monetary policy meeting of 2019. Following rate cuts in June, July and October the RBA are happy to continue with a wait-and-see approach noting that while the risks are “still tilted to the downside”, some had lessened recently. Market expectations for a February rate cut have come down from 75% to 50% following yesterday’s statement.

Key data releases during our trading day include Australia’s quarterly GDP release and China services PMI.

Global equity markets are broadly lower, - Dow -1.40%, S&P 500 -1.10%, FTSE -1.75%, DAX +0.19%, CAC -1.03%, Nikkei -0.64%, Shanghai +0.31%

Gold prices have rallied 1.5% trading at $1,479 an ounce. WTI Crude Oil prices are unchanged at $56.07 a barrel.

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