| Time | Country | Event | Period | Previous value | Forecast | Actual |
|---|
| 01:00 | New Zealand | ANZ Business Confidence | April | -43.4 | | -43.8 |
| 01:30 | Australia | Export Price Index, q/q | Quarter I | -0.9% | | 1.6% |
| 01:30 | Australia | Import Price Index, q/q | Quarter I | 1.8% | | -4.2% |
| 05:00 | Japan | Leading Economic Index | February | 96.7 | 97.7 | 98.0 |
| 05:00 | Japan | Coincident Index | February | 96.1 | | 98.6 |
During today's Asian trading, the US dollar fell against major currencies, continuing yesterday's decline, which was caused by concern about the state of the US banking sector, uncertainty about raising the government debt limit and the growing likelihood of a recession.
The US Dollar Currency Index (DXY), which tracks the dynamics of the dollar against six currencies (euro, swiss franc, yen, canadian dollar, pound sterling and swedish krona) fell by 0.10% to 101.37. Yesterday the index declined by 0.47%.
The New Zealand dollar rose 0.5% against the US dollar after ANZ Bank's business confidence survey showed some improvement among retail and agricultural respondents in April, although the headline reading was largely unchanged (-43.8 points compared to -43.4 points in March).
The Australian dollar rose by 0.3% against the US dollar amid increased risk appetite, while the Japanese yen declined by 0.1% against the US dollar ahead of tomorrow's announcement of the results of the Bank of Japan meeting. Economists expect the interest rate to remain at -0.10%, but it is possible that the new head of the Central Bank Kazuo Ueda may signal a correction in the parameters of monetary policy in the future.
Investors are also preparing for the publication of US GDP data for the 1st quarter, which will be presented today at 12:30 GMT. A strong start to the year ensured solid economic growth in the first quarter, and experts predict that GDP increased by 2% QoQ. The growth was probably helped by a jump in consumer spending. But activity is expected to slow gradually over the course of the year amid the lagging effects of monetary tightening. According to experts, the US economy will slip into a moderate recession in the second half of the year, as policy tightening dampens demand, and firms begin to lay off workers. According to forecasts, GDP grew by 2% QoQ in the 1st quarter after an increase of 2.6% QoQ in the 4th quarter.