Ella 
In early Asian trading on Thursday, NZD/USD fluctuated below the 0.6200 mark. The minutes of the January Federal Reserve meeting showed that policymakers need to have greater confidence that inflation will continue to return to target before cutting interest rates. NZD/USD is currently trading around 0.6177, with an intraday decline of 0.05%.
Judging from the minutes of the Federal Reserve meeting released on Wednesday, Federal Reserve (Fed) officials are in no rush to cut interest rates. Most participants said they would not cut interest rates until the central bank has “greater confidence” that inflation will fall. Fed members will assess rising and falling inflation risks and worry about cutting interest rates too quickly. Traders have pushed back the first rate cut from the March meeting to the June meeting and reduced the number of expected rate cuts in 2024 from six to four.
In terms of NZD/USD, Statistics New Zealand announced on Wednesday that New Zealand’s trade balance narrowed to -NZ$12.5 billion in January from the previous value of -NZ$13.62 billion (revised to -NZ$13.57 billion). New Zealand’s imports in January were NZ$5.91 billion, compared with NZ$6.22 billion in the previous month. New Zealand’s exports in January were NZ$4.93 billion, compared with NZ$5.85 billion in the previous month.
Looking ahead, investors will pay close attention to US S&P Global Purchasing Managers Index data, routine data on US initial jobless claims, existing home sales and the Chicago Fed National Activity Index. In addition, Fed officials Cook, Kashkari, Jefferson and Harker will speak later in the day. On Friday, New Zealand’s fourth-quarter retail sales will be released.
