USD up against the NZD and GBP, but down against the rest.

The NZD is running away with the activity today. The new coalition government has sent the NZD tumbling to the downside. Against the majors, the NZD is down from -1.7% to -2.29%. Those are some big % moves to the downside for the kiwi.

On the strong side, the CHF is the strongest. They had a stronger trade surplus plus have received strength from a flight to safety bid. The stocks in Europe are down and that weakness is being reflected in the pre-market trading in the US on this the 30th anniversary of the crash of 1987.

The spikes in ranges in the lower chart below are mostly in the NZD pairs. However, most of the pairs and crosses have reached the 22 day average trading range line (red line in the lower chart - there are some exceptions like the USDCAD and the AUDUSD which are watching the action). The US dollar is trading near high levels vs the EUR, JPY, CHF, AUD and NZD as North American traders enter. The GBPNZD is the biggest pip mover with a 346 pip range and the pair pinned against the high up 313 pips. It's on a tear....

In other markets, the snapshot shows:

  • Spot gold is up $4.54 or +0.35%
  • WTI crude oil is down -$0.75 or -1.48% to $51.25
  • US stocks are lower in pre-market trading. S&P futures are down -11 points. Dow futures are down -91. points and Nasdaq futures are down -37 points
  • US yields are lower. 2 year 1.5386%, down -2.44 bp. 5 year 1.9582%, down -3.5 bp. 10 year 2.316%, down -3.0 bp. 30 year 2.8309%, down -2.5 bp
  • European stocks are lower. German Dax down -0.8%. France CAC -0.6%. UK FTSE -0.5%. Spain's Ibex -0.8%. Italy's FTSE MIB -1.30%. Portugal PSI20 -0.5%
  • European 10 year yields are little changed: Germany unchanged. France unchanged. UK down -3 bp. Spain up 1 bp. Italy unchanged. Portugal down -2.6 bp. Greece up 3 bp

On the calendar today:

  • US employment claims est 240K vs 243K last. It was still being impacted by hurricanes last week.
  • Philly Fed Business outlook. Est 22.0 vs 23.8 last
  • At 10 AM ET, Leading index for Sept is expected to rise+0.1%
  • US monthly budget is expected to show a surplus of 6B in September. That is down from 33.4B last year during the same month.