By Dan Bell
The NZD/USD opens at 0.8320 after trading to a low of 0.8277 and a high of 0.8350.
Global equity markets are marginally weaker overnight with the S&P 500 down 0.13% for the day following a weaker night in Europe where most indices were down 0.1-0.5%.
The main focus overnight was ongoing concerns that no agreement between Greece and EU officials has been reached. A deal needs to be reached before Greece gets their next tranche of bailout funds (130bn EUR).
The big news over the weekend was the much stronger than expected employment numbers from the US on Friday night. Equities, commodities, and the NZD/USD all rose on the news that the US economy produced an additional 243,000 jobs in December and the unemployment rate dropped from 8.5% to 8.3% - the lowest rate since February 2009.
The encouraging US payrolls figures has reinforced evidence the US economy is recovering steadily and may delay another round of Fed monetary easing which will eventually be positive for the US Dollar (negative NZD/USD).
The NZD remains firm against the major cross rates at 0.6350 EUR, 0.5260 GBP, 0.7765 AUD and 63.75 JPY.
On the local front we get NZ Labour Cost Index at 10:45am this morning. From Australia we get the RBA Rate announcement at 4:30pm NZT- where they are expected to cut by 25bps.
The focus for NZ this week will be NZ Employment numbers on Thursday. Offshore the Bank of England and European Central Banks announce interest rate policy later in the week.
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Dan Bell is the senior currency strategist at HiFX in Auckland. You can contact him here
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