Article Highlights

  • New Zealand GDT auction saw 16.5% gain in dairy prices
  • New Zealand current account deficit at 1.22B NZD vs. 1.40B NZD forecast
  • Australia’s MI leading index down by 0.3% in Aug
  • U.K. Aug employment report due
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After making big moves across the charts in the previous trading sessions, forex pairs decided to take it easy in the past few hours and sit tight ahead of top-tier catalysts. The Kiwi managed to gain a bit of support from the Global Dairy Trade auction held early on in the Asian session, as it yielded an impressive 16.5% gain in dairy prices – its third consecutive bi-weekly increase.

To top it off, New Zealand also printed a better than expected current account balance, indicating a deficit of 1.22 billion NZD versus the projected 1.40 billion NZD shortfall. However, this represented a shift from the previous 0.82 billion NZD surplus recorded in the first quarter of the year. Components of the report revealed declines in exports of forestry products and meat products dragged the value of shipments down by $167 million in Q2.

Despite that, NZD/USD is holding steady around 0.6360 (+0.06%), NZD/JPY is cruising around the 76.50 level (-0.02%), and AUD/NZD is trading 12 pips lower at 1.1241 (-0.10%). Australia reported a 0.3% decline in its MI leading index for August, hinting at a possible dip in economic activity in the coming months.

Yen pairs were slowly edging lower throughout most of the session, only to pop slightly higher towards the end and erase some of their losses. USD/JPY is down 10 pips to 120.31 (-0.08%), EUR/JPY is flat at 135.73 (+0.00%), and GBP/JPY is down 11 pips to 184.59 (-0.06%).

All eyes and ears could turn to the British pound since the U.K. is set to print its jobs report next. The claimant count change is expected to show a 5.1K decline in joblessness, possibly enough to keep the unemployment rate steady at 5.6% for August. Wage growth is still expected to be subdued, with the average earnings index projected to tick up from 2.4% to 2.5% in the three-month period ending in July. Stronger than expected figures could mean forex gains for sterling while weak data could spur losses.

Also lined up today are the final CPI readings for the euro zone and the Swiss ZEW economic expectations index. No changes are expected for the euro zone’s 0.2% headline CPI and 1.0% core CPI while Switzerland is hoping to see a small improvement from the previous 5.9 ZEW index reading. As always, be on the lookout for any other market events that could lead to sudden moves in the forex arena!

U.S. Session Recap

Bonnie and Clyde, peanut butter and jelly, Kanye West and Kanye West. Some things just go well together.

In forex trading, you get better odds at securing pips when your fundamental analysis is complemented by technical analysis.

Head on to Big Pippin’s Daily Chart Art for some pip-locking technical setups!