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16 Aug 2023

Negative vibes

• Wall of worry. China worries, sticky UK inflation & a hawkish tone in the Fed minutes weighed on risk sentiment, pushed up US yields & supported the USD.• AUD pressure. The backdrop has exerted more pressure on the AUD. The AUD is in rarefied air. Since 2015 AUD/USD has only been lower in ~2% of trading days.• AU jobs. July labour force report released today. The labour market is a lagging indicator. Consensus is looking for unemployment to tick up slightly to 3.6%. Familiar themes have continued to drive markets. On the one hand concerns about the state of...

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Markets see clouds in the US economy’s silver lining

“In the beginning the Universe was created,” said Douglas Adams in the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. “This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move”. Markets seem to be taking a similar view on yesterday’s hotter-than-anticipated US retail sales report, with an aversion to risk becoming more pronounced as investors grapple with the prospect of higher long-term rates. The dollar is holding its gains and equity futures are setting up for a weaker open even as two- and ten-year Treasury yields fade from their highs. Risk-sensitive units like the Australian and...

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Cross-Check: AUD/NZD – Stay the course

As was widely expected the RBNZ kept its Official Cash Rate at 5.5% once again at today’s meeting. After moving early and going harder than its peers the RBNZ has now held rates steady for two straight meetings. The RBNZ delivered a substantial 525bps worth of rate hikes between October 2021 and May 2023 and the negative economic effects of these moves are starting to manifest. We expect these negative trends to continue as the cashflow hit on the NZ household sector intensifies and slowdown in other interest rate sensitive sectors like housing/construction spills over into the broader economy and...

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