Ella 
The NZD/USD currency pair is trending positively, trading around 0.5940 during the Asian session on Thursday. The risk-sensitive New Zealand dollar gained momentum as risk appetite improved. According to Reuters, an Iranian official issued a statement saying that there were no immediate plans to retaliate against Israeli air strikes, and investors were optimistic about the resolution of the conflict between Iran and Israel.
The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) plans to cut the medium-term lending facility (MLF) interest rate in the next interest rate adjustment scheduled for May 15 to reduce financing costs, China Securities Journal reported on Tuesday. China’s reduction in the medium-term lending facility interest rate may stimulate economic activity and increase consumer spending, thereby increasing the Chinese market’s demand for New Zealand goods and services.
The U.S. Dollar Index (DXY), which measures the U.S. dollar (USD) against six major currencies, depreciated following mixed U.S. manufacturing data. However, a slight rise in U.S. Treasury yields somewhat offset the dollar’s losses.
U.S. durable goods orders rose 2.6% month-on-month in March, beating the previous reading of 0.7% and beating expectations of 2.5%, according to a report from the Commerce Department on Wednesday. However, core goods excluding transportation rose 0.2% on the month, missing expectations of 0.3%.
On Thursday, the United States will announce the preliminary annualized gross domestic product (first quarter), and the growth rate is expected to slow down. These GDP numbers will provide insight into the strength of the U.S. economy and could influence future actions by the Federal Reserve (Fed).
