In This Article:
Earlier in the Day:
Economic data released through the Asian session was on the lighter side this morning. Key stats were limited to New Zealand wholesale inflation and Business PMI figures.
For the Kiwi Dollar,
The Business PMI increased from 51.9 to 53.0 in April, falling short of a forecasted 54.5. According to the BusinessNZ PMI Survey,
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The new orders sub-index slipped from 52.7 to 52.4, with the production index easing from 50.9 to 50.8.
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Another negative was a decline in the employment sub-index, which fell from 52.0 to 51.6. In spite of the decline, the sub-index continued to hold above the long-run average of 50.7.
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Supporting the increase was a jump in deliveries. The deliveries sub-index rose from 52.7 to 56.3.
BusinessNZ also noted that, in spite of the PMI increase, the number of positive comments for April stood at 48.9%, down from 52.6% in March.
Negative comments related to a lack of orders and customer demand, in addition to seasonal factors that included Easter.
The Kiwi Dollar moved from $0.65381 to $0.65362 upon release of the figures that preceded the wholesale inflation numbers.
The Producer Price Input Index fell by 0.9% in the 1st quarter, falling well short of a forecasted 1.4% increase. In the 4th quarter, the Index had increased by 1.6%. According to figures released by NZStats, it was the first quarterly decline since the 1st quarter of 2016. The decline was attributed to a slide in electricity generation prices.
The Kiwi Dollar moved from $0.65362 to $0.65361 upon release of the figures. At the time of writing, the Kiwi Dollar was down 0.05% to $0.6533.
Elsewhere,
At the time of writing, the Aussie Dollar was down 0.01% to $0.6891, while the Japanese Yen was down by 0.11% to ¥109.97 against the U.S Dollar.
The Day Ahead:
For the EUR,
It’s another relatively quiet day ahead. April inflation figures are due out of the Eurozone later this morning.
The core annual rate of inflation and the annual rate of inflation figures are finalized numbers that are unlikely to have a material impact on the EUR, barring a sizeable adjustment from prelim.
The focus will likely be on the month-on-month figure that is forecasted to be EUR negative.
Outside of the numbers, trade war chatter will continue to influence through the day. The EU may be off the hook for now, but it may only be a matter of time if U.S stats continue to improve…
At the time of writing, the EUR was up 0.02% at $1.1176.
For the Pound,
There are no material stats due out of the UK today.
The focus will remain on Brexit and political chatter. Rising support for the likes of the Brexit Party and an imminent change to the Tory Party leadership brings some uncertainty to what lies ahead.