US markets rose overnight, but are in a holding pattern ahead of Donald Trump’s big tariff announcements due at 7am Sydney/Melbourne time. Australia’s housing market picks up, while New Zealand building approvals stay sluggish, and inflation unexpectedly rises in South Korea in the middle of a rate cut cycle.
In our bonus deep dive interview, ANZ FX Analyst Felix Ryan outlines ANZ Research’s work developing a new method to detect Foreign Exchange trading signals.
5 things to know in 5 minutes:
US markets wobbled overnight ahead of the big tariff news. As of 4am Sydney/Melbourne time the S&P 500 was up 1%. ANZ Head of G3 Economics Brian Martin says markets traded cautiously, although ADT payrolls figures were better than expected ahead of tomorrow night’s non-farm payrolls figures.
Australia’s housing market is picking up, with capital city house prices rising 0.4% in March after a 0.3% lift in February. ANZ Economist Maddy Dunk says there looks to have only been a shallow housing downturn in the months prior.
Australia’s building approval numbers are also feeding into the trend. While approvals fell 0.3% in February, that followed an upwardly revised 6.9% lift in January.
New Zealand building consents rose 0.7% in February, following a 2.6% lift in January. ANZ Economist Henry Russell says it is not yet clear that a recovery is underway, particularly as annual consents are down 7.5%.
Annual inflation in South Korea unexpectedly lifted to 2.1% in March, with core inflation ticking up to 1.9%, near the central bank’s 2% target. ANZ Economist Krystal Tan says inflation looks like it will remain sticky around its current level.
Cheers,
Bernard
PS: Catch you tomorrow with market reaction to today’s US tariff announcement, due one hour after this publication goes out.
