NZD/USD edges higher continuing the gains from Wednesday when the Fed adopted an easing bias in its May policy meeting. A positive tilt to market sentiment leverages gains for NZD/USD on Thursday. Longer-term negative factors and the worsening economic picture in NZ are likely to continue to weigh.
New Zealand is in a technical recession after two quarters of negative growth. Furthermore, headline inflation fell to 4.0% in Q1 from 4.7% previously. Even though inflation remains well above the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s target of 1.0% - 3.0%, the pressure is increasing for it to lower interest rates to help boost the stuttering economy. More negative data out on Wednesday showed Building Permits fell 0.