Commodity Prices have rebounded and that has helped the Australian and New Zealand dollars extend their rise.
The annualized pace of credit card spending has slowed modestly, but it has not stifled the move in the New Zealand dollar. Looking forward however, the number does suggest that consumer spending in New Zealand is beginning to slow. This seems to be the opposite of what is going on in Canada. Retail sales in Canada jumped 1.5 percent in the month of January, which is the strongest pace of growth in 7 months. Canadian consumers are showing no signs of cutting back as employment remains firm. However that has not helped the Canadian dollar today which has been subjected to a significant amount of intraday volatility. When good news fails to be reflected in the price action of a currency, we become skeptical of the price action. Even though the worry lies in slower US growth spilling over into Canada, the strong numbers confirm that at least for the time being, that is not happening.