NZDUSD

The New Zealand dollar is the best performing currency in the G10 today. This is mainly due to the weakness of the USD, which discounted following the release of PPI inflation data from the US, which showed a decline in the headline reading from 4.6% to 2.7% y/y. Thus, the NZDUSD pair took advantage of the favorable technical situation and filled the inverted head-and-shoulders, bearish pattern that appeared on the H1 interval.

This type of price formation usually heralds a trend reversal - in this case to an upward one. After crossing the level of 0.6455, the upward movement accelerated, and the stock is currently struggling with the 61.8% measurement set on the last downward wave. In the case of a breakout above, the bulls can direct their attention towards the next resistance zone at 0.6335. On the other hand, in the event of a pullback and selling pressure, support remains at the level of 0.6245.

German index breaks above 16 000 pts for the first time in 15 months

New week on the global financial markets began in upbeat moods with indices from Asia-Pacific, especially China, trading higher today. European futures also traded higher throughout the Asian session but have caught an additional bid after opening of the European cash session. German DAX (DE30) is trading 0.5% higher and trades above the 16,000 pts mark for the first time in 15-months! The next resistance zone in-line is marked with all-time highs in the area ranging below 16,300 pts mark - less than 2% above current market price.

Alphabet price dips after Samsung deal concerns!

Alphabet Inc. (Googl.US) stock price declines nearly 4% due to the concerns raised by the potential loss of revenue from Samsung. Googl.US price is currently trading at $105.

According to the news that came out this morning, Google's employees reportedly panicked after discovering that Samsung Electronics is considering replacing Google Search with Microsoft's Bing AI as the default search engine on its devices. This change would practically mean the end of a 12 year partnership with Google.

This switch could potentially lower an estimated $3 billion in annual revenue for Google. Despite Google’s deal with Samsung being significantly less valuable than the deal with Apple, the similar contract with Apple is up for renewal this year. This contract is tied to an estimated $20 billion. Apple will likely keep a close eye on Samsung’s negotiations with Google, which could potentially allow Apple to strengthen its bargaining power with both contractors.

Google is now racing to build an all-new search engine powered by AI and upgrading the existing one with new features as competitors like Bing are posing a serious threat to the tech giant’s search business. Despite negotiations still ongoing, Google developers are working on a brand new set of features named "Magi" for the upcoming search engine. Google sees a significant risk related to the rise of AI-powered competitors like recently demonstrated ChatGPT by OpenAI.

(Googl.US) Stock price action is currently trading in rising consolidation channel with 200d SMA close to crossover 50d SMA signaling trend reversal.

Oil

OIL.WTI is retreating by almost 2.5% today as a result of several factors. One is the US dollar, which has not been this strong for a long time as a result of rising yields. Another is the US reserve sales of over 1 million barrels last week. This is not much, but it shows that the US may want to stabilize the oil market. Perhaps the most important factor is Russia's powerful exports at levels last seen before the attack on Ukraine. Russia's exports are doing well, primarily to Asian countries, including India, from where fuel in turn flows to Europe in record volumes.

A massive bump in WTI oil. After a test of 80 USD, the upper limit of the upward gap can be expected to be tested.

AUDUSD

The Australian dollar is one of the best performing major currencies today. RBA minutes turned out to be neither dovish, nor hawkish. On one hand, the document showed that RBA members considered a rate hike before ultimately deciding on leaving rates unchanged. On the other hand, the document noted that the Bank should reassess whether there is still need to undertake additional tightening. AUD, however, caught a bid following release of better-than-expected GDP data from China. The Chinese economy grew at a pace of 4.5% YoY in Q1 2023, much faster than 4.0% YoY expected by economists. Moreover, retail sales data for March showed a 10.6% YoY jump - also better than the 8.0% YoY increase expected. Industrial production data for March missed estimates but showed higher growth than in February.

Taking a look at AUDUSD chart at D1 interval, we can see that the pair bounced off an important mix of support today - an intersection of 50- and 200-session moving average (orange circle). Demand side reaction to this technical support hints that another upward impulse may be about to start. In such a scenario, resistance zone in the 0.6780 area, marked with 38.2% retracement of October 2022 - January 2023 upward move may be the next target for the bulls.

EURGBP

The British pound is the best performing currency in the broad FX market at the moment. The EURGBP pair is trading close to 0.35% down today, triggered by a strong UK CPI reading. The UK's March CPI inflation reading came in at 10.1% YoY against a forecast of 9.8% and the previous reading of 10.4%. Core inflation continued unabated and came out at 6.2% against an expected fall to 6.0%. It had previously been 6.2%.

As reported by Reuters, the decline in price pressures in the UK economy is disappointing, raising the prospect of another interest rate hike in the UK. The swaps market is currently pricing in an 80% chance of a 25 basis point hike at a future BoE meeting. Let's remember that the UK has the highest inflation rates among Western European countries and is the only one struggling with double-digit inflation.

UK Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt said Wednesday's data confirms why the government must continue its efforts to bring inflation down.

The EURGBP pair lost ground sharply after raising the odds of the BoE continuing its interest rate hike cycle. The currency pair has drifted below support levels set by exponential moving averages, so a further reaction to these levels could be a key factor creating further movement in the pair.

Gold falls back to early April levels!

Currently, the probability for a 25bp hike in May is rated at 88%, but on the other hand, the probability for a hike in June is rated at 29%, so adding up the probability, it is expected that a hike will happen anyway.

From the current market perspective, we are seeing a decidedly stronger dollar, which is gaining along with treasury yields, which are above 3.6% for 10-year treasury yields. In addition to this, the BoJ is hinting that there should be no change in the yield curve management program at its April meeting, which is also propping up the dollar. In response, gold is losing heavily and falling not only below $2,000 per ounce, but already below $1,980 per ounce. Silver, on the other hand, is below $25 per ounce and losing almost 2%.

Gold is falling to its lowest level since early April. The next important support near the 23.6 Fibo retracement at $1950 per ounce.

Oil

The US Energy Information Administration released an official weekly report on US oil inventories at 3:30 pm BST today. API estimates released yesterday in the evening showed crude inventories falling more or less in-line with estimates. However, government report showed quite major deviations from both expectations and yesterday's API releases. Crude oil inventories dropped 4.58 mb - much more than expected. On the other hand, gasoline inventories data showed a surprising 1.3 mb build while distillate inventories dropped much less than expected.

EIA report on US oil inventories

Oil inventories: -4.58 mb vs -2.5 mb (API: -2.67 mb)
Gasoline inventories: +1.3 mb vs -1.9 mb (API: -1.0 mb)
Distillate inventories: -0.35 mb vs -1.8 mb (API: -1.9 mb)

Oil is trading slightly higher following the release. However, scale of the move did not exceed 0.3% and does not change much in the overall technical picture. Taking a look at OIL.WTI at D1 interval, we can see that price dropped below $80 mark today and even briefly moved into territory of a bullish price gap that was triggered by the most recent OPEC cuts.

NZDUSD

The New Zealand dollar has been one of the worst performing major currencies today. The sell-off was primarily caused by the inflation report, which showed that price growth in the economy is slowing much faster than expected. The quarterly data showed that inflation on a QoQ basis came in at 1.2% against forecasts of 1.7% and an earlier reading of 1.4%. In YoY terms, inflation came in at 6.7% against expectations of 7.1% and an earlier reading of 7.2%.

The swap market is currently pricing in a near 78% chance of a 25 basis point interest rate hike at the next RBNZ meeting. As recently as this morning, those odds were close to 85%, so the surprise inflation reading has lowered the prediction for a further hike. The RBNZ had forecast Q1 inflation at an annualized rate of 7.3%, slowing to 6.6% in Q2. As such, today's reading of 6.7% for Q1 goes a long way to putting the brakes on further aggression in the tightening cycle.

Looking at the NZDUSD price chart, we can see that the pair has broken out below the support zone set by the April 17 low and is currently trading near the levels outlined by the 38.2% Fibo retracement of the upward wave started in October 2022. For the moment, the key support and resistance levels are: (support) the zone between the previously mentioned 38.2 retracement and the 50% Fibo measure; (resistance) the downward trendline initiated in February 2023.

OIL.WTI is pulling back and looks to close bullish price gap

Oil prices are pulling back and are one their way to close the bullish price gap that was triggered by unexpected OPEC+ decision to cut output. Taking a look at WTI (OIL.WTI) at D1 interval, we can see that the recent price advance was halted near the $82 resistance zone, marked with the upper limit of the Overbalance structure. While prices have traded briefly above this hurdle, bulls failed to uphold momentum and a pullback was launched. Moreover, the price dropped below the 100-season moving average today, which further brightens the outlook for bears. While lower limit of the bullish price gap from April 3 is still more than 2% below current market price, it looks like closing it may be just a matter of time, given current market volatility.

Taking a look at the chart at lower interval (H1), we can see that WTI is trading in a short-term downtrend. Key resistance to watch in the near-term can be found in the $78.35 area. Unless we see a break above this level, bulls may struggle to launch a longer-lasting upward impulse.

Chart of the Day - EURUSD

EURUSD is pulling back this morning. The move lower is driven mostly by strengthening of the US dollar. The main currency pair tried to recover some losses after the release of mixed PMIs for France and Germany that showed major improvement in the services sector and significant deterioration in manufacturing. While flash PMIs failed to trigger a strong recovery move, they seem to have been enough to halt declines.

Taking a look at EURUSD at the H1 interval, we can see that the pair dropped to the 1.0940 area, where the short-term upward trendline can be found. Bulls managed to defend this price zone and now we can see the pair trying to climb back above 1.0950. From a technical point of view, this is a bullish development but whether this translates into a large upward impulse will depend on whether bulls manage to break above the 1.0980 resistance zone that has been limiting upward moves this week. Should such a break occur, EUR bulls may target recent highs in the 1.1070 area next.

The pair may see some volatility around 2:45 pm BST when flash PMIs from the United States for April are released. Market expects a small deterioration in both manufacturing and services.

Oil

Indices from Asia-Pacific traded lower at the beginning of a new week. Nikkei, S&P/ASX 200 and Nifty 50 traded flat, Kospi dropped 0.9% and indices from China traded 0.3-1.3% lower

DAX futures and S&P 500 futures trade slightly lower

Russia warned that it will terminate Black Sea grain deal if G7 moves to impose a total ban on exports

BoJ Governor Ueda said that inflation forecasts strong and close to 2% for bank to consider changing its yield curve control mechanism

Financial Times reports that United States asked South Korea not to increase chip sales to China if chips of US company Micron get banned as part of Chinese investigation

Cryptocurrencies traded mostly sideways over the weekend. Small gains can be seen today - Bitcoin gains 0.8%, Ethereum adds 0.3% and Dogecoin jumps 1.2%

USD and CHF are the best performing major currencies while AUD and JPY lag the most

Precious metals pull back amid USD strengthening. Gold drops 0.2%, silver trades 0.7% lower and platinum plunges 2.3%

Energy commodities trade lower as well - oil drops 1.2% while US natural gas prices decline 0.5%

Brent (OIL) is inches away from closing a bearish price gap triggered by an unexpected OPEC+ output cut.