Strong US dollar undermines the Australian and New Zealand dollar

Elsewhere, the Canadian dollar strengthened on Friday on the back of positive labour data domestically which showed the overall unemployment rate had not increased despite market estimates; furthermore, the better than expected labour data from the US helped the Canadian dollar as its strongest trading partner. The same positive news from the States had a negative effect on the Australian and New Zealand dollars as confidence in the US dollar saw investors moving funds away from the antipodean currencies. This week the New Zealand dollar may see some change with the release of a financial stability report on Tuesday evening and retail sales data on Wednesday evening. Preliminary GDP figures from Japan come out also on Wednesday with a small increase of 0.6% predicted and from Canada we have Trade Balance figures and manufacturing sales released on Thursday and Friday respectively. Call now for the latest update on the markets.