The Reserve Bank of New Zealand released its latest Financial Stability Report today, not raising any concerns. This was followed later by the New Zealand Q1 labour market report, which came in with jobs added and a lower-than-expected jobless rate. While Q1 is a long way past, the data, when combined with the lack of worry from the RBNZ over stability, firms up prospects for an RBNZ rate hike at its next meeting. This is scheduled for May 24. NZD/USD rose on the session in response, to highs just shy of 0.6250.

While on central banks, Bank of Korea Governor Rhee spoke in an interview saying, amongst other points, that it’s a little bit premature to talk about a policy pivot (see bullets above).

Elsewhere across major FX the USD net lost ground against a higher JPY, CHF, EUR and GBP. AUD and CAD lagged.

Chinese and Japanese markets were closed today for holidays.

And, a reminder, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) decision is due at 2pm US Eastern time, which is 1800 GMT. Federal Reserve Chair Powell will follow with a press conference a half hour later. He’d better get his communications spot on, markets are edgy right now, US banking system concerns rose again on Tuesday.

nzd wrap rbnz stability 03 May 2023