Australian and New Zealand Dollars Open Higher from Pre-Easter Levels

The AUDUSD opens at 0.6393 and the NZDUSD opens at 0.6098 this morning.

There has not been too much surprise over the long weekend. Coronavirus continues to be a focus, with the latest thinking being that Europe in general is just starting to get on top of it, with the US three weeks behind on their curve. This is fairly scary given that they have already hit 579,000 cases and their lockdown is not as stringent as others.

From Australia and New Zealand’s point of view though, we appear to be on the home stretch, and well on the downside of our curves.

US Unemployment claims came in at 6.6M, similar to last time. There is some worry though that they cannot process claims fast enough. Also to be Unemployed, you technically need to be actively looking for work. One possibility therefore, is that the Unemployment does not actually get that high, but the participation rate falls off a cliff.

Australian Business confidence is out this morning. This one is probably not that important, as a really bad number won’t change things. However going forward, they will become more relevant. If we can start to see an improving trend, that is what will start to drive markets, and the exchange rate again.

Overnight, global equity markets are mixed, Dow -1.1% S&P 500  -1.0%, FTSE +2.9%, DAX 2.2%, CAC +1.4%, Nikkei -2.3%, Shanghai -0.5%.

On last week, gold prices are up 4.1% to USD$1,716 an ounce. WTI Crude Oil prices are off 12.6%, back down to $22.7 a barrel.

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Australia Morning Update | New Zealand Morning Update