Consumer confidence falls again, impacting the Greenback

OFX Global Money Transfers

Mon, Sep 23, 2019, 8:00 AM

Posted by OFX

USD – United States Dollar

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index decreased in September, following a slight decline in August. The Index now stands at 125.1, down from 134.2 in August. It is negatively affecting the U.S. dollar, causing the Greenback to fall 0.15 percent at this moment.

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said the central bank might need to ease monetary policy further to offset downside risks from trade conflicts and too-low inflation.

According to Bloomberg, China granted new waivers to some domestic companies to buy between 2 and 3 million tons of U.S. soybeans without retaliatory tariffs. Some state-owned buyers and other firms bought at least 20 cargoes from the Pacific Northwest. Working-level talks took place last week, and top U.S. and Chinese negotiators resume negotiations next month. Agricultural purchases are seen as a proxy for the outlook on negotiations.

Key Movers

The U.K. Supreme Court in a unanimous ruling declared Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s decision to suspend Parliament until mid-October unlawful. The defeat of Boris Johnson is a boost for MPs seeking to prevent a no-deal Brexit. As a consequence, the GBP/USD pair rises 0.55 percent at the time of this writing.

Australia’s Central Bank Chief Philip Lowe reiterated that his economy is at a “gentle turning point” and gave little indication that an interest-rate cut was in sight, disappointing economists expecting one within days and causing the AUD/USD pair to bounce 0.35 percent higher, trading at 0.6795 at the time of this writing. Lowe added, “…at our board meeting next week … we will again take stock of the evidence.”

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand will announce its latest policy decision tonight. After an aggressive cut at the last meeting, rates are expected to stay on hold. However, this week, the Kiwi dollar has been one of the best-performing currencies. Just today, the NZD/USD pair has increased 0.5 percent, trading at 0.6322. Last Friday, it touched a four-year low of 0.6255, and it has risen by more than 1 percent since then. The outperformance of the Kiwi is due to market participant positioning flows ahead of Wednesday’s RBNZ policy meeting.