- The New Zealand Dollar, which has been reaching long-term highs against the Japanese Yen as one of the strongest major currencies lately, has sunk following the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s less hawkish rhetoric on inflation, which leads markets to believe there will now be a realistic prospect of rate cuts. The RBNZ currently has the highest interest rate of all major currencies at 5.50%.
- Australian CPI (inflation) data released a few hours ago showed inflation has fallen less than expected, remaining at 3.4% when an uptick to 3.6% was the consensus forecast. This has sent the Australian Dollar lower against all major currencies except the Kiwi.
- Global stock markets are mixed, with several indices still looking bullish but not breaking to new highs. The only major index which made a new all-time high yesterday was the Nikkei 225 Index.
- In the Forex market, the US Dollar has been the strongest major currency since the Tokyo open today. The New Zealand Dollar has been the weakest. This puts the NZD/USD currency pair in focus today.
- Bitcoin is advancing strongly to new long-term high prices above $57k after making a bullish breakout beyond $52,884 a couple of days ago after its consolidation finally ended. Trend traders and investors will remain interested in Bitcoin on the long side.
- Cocoa futures rose strongly two days ago to make another new record high but made a bearish retracement yesterday. Trend traders will be watching closely and will be interested in going long. Cocoa futures have risen by more than one third since the start of 2024 alone.
- There will one high-impact economic data release later today, of US Preliminary GDP data, which is expected to show annualized economic growth unchanged at 3.3%.
- Yesterday’s additional data releases were:
- US Durable Goods Orders which came in lower than expected showing a month-on-month decline of 6.1%.
- US CPI Consumer Confidence which came in lower than expected. These items suggest the US is possibly cooling by more than expected.