Earlier in the Day:

It’s was a relatively quiet start to the day on the economic calendar this morning. The Kiwi Dollar was in action early on.

For the Kiwi Dollar

Electronic card retail sales slid by 7.9% in August, reversing an upwardly revised 1.20% increase in July.

According to NZ Stats,

• Compared with August 2019, the total value of electronic card spending was down 5.3% (NZ$411m).

• The non-retail (excl. services) category was down 16% (NZ313m). This category includes medical and other health services; travel and tour arrangement services; postal and courier delivery services; and other non-retail industries).

• Also seeing a heavy decline was the services category, which fell by 16% (NZ$52m).

• The decline in August was attributed to the reintroduction of COVID-19 containment measures.

• Spending on food and beverage services fell by 13% (NZ$115m) compared with August 2019.

The Kiwi Dollar moved from $0.66824 to $0.66839 upon release of the figures. At the time of writing, the Kiwi Dollar was down by 0.13% to $0.6675.

Elsewhere

At the time of writing, the Japanese Yen was up by 0.01% ¥106.17 against the U.S Dollar, with the Aussie Dollar was down by 0.23% to $0.7266.

The Day Ahead:

For the EUR

It’s a quiet day ahead on the economic calendar. There are no material stats to provide the EUR with direction on the day.

While there are no stats, however, the ECB is due to deliver its September monetary policy decision later today.

Following the FED’s change to the monetary policy framework and threat of prolonged Dollar weakness, the press conference will draw plenty of attention.

While the markets will be looking for forward guidance on policy and the ECB’s view on the economic recovery, any chatter on exchange rates will also influence.

At the time of writing, the EUR was up by 0.06% to $1.1810.

For the Pound

It’s yet another quiet day ahead on the economic calendar. There are no material stats due out of the UK to provide the Pound with direction.

That continues to leave the Pound firmly in the hands of Brexit chatter that has been negative for the Pound this week.

At the time of writing, the Pound was down by 0.12% to $1.2987.

Across the Pond

It’s a busier day ahead for the U.S Dollar, with August wholesale inflation figures and jobless claims figures due out later today.

While there will be some influence, any material easing of inflationary pressures is unlikely to shift the FED’s stance on policy near-term. It would support the FED’s lower for longer stance, however.

Of greater significance will be the weekly jobless claims figures that would need to avoid a return to 1m levels. A further decline would support riskier assets on the day.