Strong US Retail Sales Lift Greenback - APAC Update

Xe Corporate APAC

April 22, 2019 — 3 min read

The AUDUSD opened at 0.7135 (mid-rate),  the NZDUSD opened at 0.6676 (mid-rate) this morning.

With little in the way of domestic economic data releases, direction for the NZD will be dictated by offshore reports. Australia’s quarterly inflation report, along with monetary policy statements out of the Bank of Japan and the Bank of Canada and the weekend’s US advance quarterly GDP report should all potentially market moving.

US Update

The USD rallied strongly on Friday and has held those gains over the Easter break, after the US retails sales report continued the recent run of upbeat US economic data releases. The US Commerce Department reported retail sales spiked 1.6% in March, largely due to a surge auto sales which rocketed 3.1% during the month. Excluding autos, retail sales jumped 1.2% during the month following on from an upwardly revised 0.2% dip in February. Economists had forecast overall retail sales to increase by 0.9%.

Overnight, President Trump announced that the US won't extend waivers for any country past May 2nd  on sanctions for importing Iranian oil. China, Japan and South Korea are major importers of Iranian oil. Investors are bracing themselves for the possible negative impact this decision could have on the ongoing US-China trade talks.

Global equity markets are little changed - Dow -0.19%, S&P 500 -0.01%, FTSE Closed%, DAX Closed, CAC Closed, Nikkei +0.08%, Shanghai -1.70%.

Gold prices are marginally higher up, 0.2% trading at $1,275 an ounce.

WTI Crude Oil prices have surged higher up 2.6%, trading at $65.55 a barrel.

Mid-market Rates

AUDUSD0.71350%NZDUSD0.66760%AUDEUR0.63360%NZDEUR0.59290%AUDGBP0.54950%NZDGBP0.51410%AUDJPY79.860%NZDJPY74.730%AUDNZD1.06850%NZDAUD0.93560%GBPAUD1.81980%NZDCAD0.89070% GBPNZD1.94510%
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