NZD/USD consolidates ahead of Powell at 50% Fibo
- NZD/USD is currently trading at 0.6605, barely up from the recent lows and consolidating.
- All eyes are on Federal Reverse Powell's testimony starting today in the New York session.
NZD/USD is under pressure as the commodity complex takes up the brunt of the Dollar's comeback following last week's Nonfarm Payrolls surprise beat. USD has preserved its strength in the lead-up to Fed Chair Powell’s testimony as hawkish comments from fellow Fed speakers supported the greenback. Investors will be looking for clues as to whether the Fed is about to cut interest rates as soon as this next meeting around in July. Indeed, market expectations for an aggressive easing at the July FOMC meeting continued to soften.
The RBNZ has been more proactive than the Fed in shifting to an easing bias this year which has weighed on the bird which has been unable to full shake off the May cut (taking rates from 1.75% to 1.5%). The prospects of the RBNZ is cutting rates again on 7- August (85% priced to lower rates to 1.25%) has so far been less impactful as markets price in a 25bp cut from the Fed which is data dependent.
US data
Overnight, Job openings in the US fell slightly to 7.32 million in May with just 72,000 new jobs added in the month. "This indicates some cooling in the labour market. There are still more jobs available than workers to fill them, but employers say they can’t get workers with the skills they need," analysts at ANZ Bank explained.
NZD/USD levels
The bird has given back 50% of the mid-June rally, resting now at the 50% Fibonacci retracement around 0.66 the figure with confluence of the rising 4-HR 200 moving average.