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FX Update

Economic Releases

Worldwide coronavirus cases surpasses 9.7M with over 490,000 deaths officially reported.

The RBNZ left their cash rate unchanged at 0.25% Wednesday at their policy meeting confirming again they would be leaving it for some time. The central bank left their bond purchase program also unchanged at 60B but Orr said they are prepared to provide additional stimulus when necessary. The question is whether the bank has enough stimulus in place as the country prepares for further uncertain economic times. Highlighting the pressures on export earnings due to the appreciation of the NZD implied the government could be preparing to intervene by increasing the current 60B support package in combination with selling the New Zealand Dollar. All said and done the government maintains the view that the current balance of risks remain firmly placed to the downside. Post statement the NZD plunged by around 1.0% across a range of crosses before regaining some losses during overnight sessions.  

  Key Points…

  • NZ picked up 3 new coronavirus cases yesterday bringing the number of affected people in quarantine designated facilities nationally to 14 – still no community spread YET
  • The International Monetary Fund has lowered their forecast for the global outlook predicting the GDP will deteriorate by 4.9% this year. This has been adjusted from 3.0% prior in April. 
  • RBA’s Lowe made comment yesterday he still has an array of policy measures to use in the fight to bring the economy back from the brink, saying he would like to see a lower AUD although at the moment it’s not an issue, but in his mind slightly overvalued
  • Virus cases in the US continue to blow out with new hotspots popping up all over the country. Daily cases peaked midweek at over 39,000 matching April numbers. Officials must be considering some sort of partial lockdown scenarios again
  • Fed’s Mester (President of the Federal Reserve in Cleveland) said she expects US unemployment to end the year at 9.0% with the economy to improve towards the end of 2020, Q2 will show the worst effects of the virus pandemic on economic activity
  • Beijing has imposed a partial lockdown after dozens of new coronavirus cases emerged- just for one day the city was Covid free, many new cases have been linked to the Xinfadi food market- China reported 19 new cases yesterday with 13 coming from Beijing
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