Kiwi fails to fly

Currencies Direct March 25th 2015 - < 1 minute read

The Kiwi dollar underperformed during Asian trading hours yesterday (24 March), dropping as much as 0.3% on average against the leading majors. The main driver was New Zealand’s disappointing trade balance numbers that put the year-to-date deficit at NZ$2.18 billion in February, the highest for six years. 

Sterling recovered against all of its leading counterparts overnight, following a poor session derived from particularly low inflationary data. 

German confidence grows

The main dockets today (25 March) will come from Germany and US. First up, the Ifo survey of German business confidence headlines the European session. The future expectations survey is forecast to rise for the fifth consecutive month in March and peak at its highest level since July.

The data is unlikely to offer any permanent euro move, given the results’ limited influence on the short-term European Central Bank policy outlook. EURUSD continues its recent turnaround in fortunes and flirts with 1.10 in early trading.

USA today

From the US, Federal Reserve member Charles Evans will be under the spotlight as investors look for further clues on the timing of the rate rise. After the last Federal Open Market Committee meeting, markets delayed the likely timeline for the first post-QE rate interest rise, with Fed Funds futures now suggesting an increase in autumn against the original June/July consensus. The notably dovish Evans may weigh on the Greenback with supportive comments for this view during his speech today.
 
We have durable goods orders from the US, where orders are expected to grow 0.2% for the month of February down from 2.8% last month. Tomorrow (26 March) retail sales data from the UK will be released – we can expect to see the percentage change month-on-month and annual volume change among British retailers. The data is forecast to indicate a 4.2% growth (annualised).

 

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