Kia ora,
Welcome to Wednesday’s Economy Watch where we follow the economic events and trends that affect Aotearoa/New Zealand.
I'm David Chaston and this is the international edition from Interest.co.nz.
And today we lead with news the Wall Street and business titans who supported the 2024 Trump campaign are starting to turn on him, one calling the current situation "a clown show".
The show has gotten even more extreme overnight. The US has added another 50% to tariffs on its imports from China, taking the total to 104%.
But first up today, the overnight GDT Pulse dairy auction saw SMP prices fall a bit more than expected, down -2.6% from last week's full auction. But the WMP price slipped much less than expected, down just -1.8% on the same basis. The falling currency over the past week means there is no net change in NZD. The floating exchange rate is doing its job as a stabiliser.
In the US, nominal retail sales surged last week, up +7.2% from the same week a year ago as consumers rushed to stock up on goods ahead of the tariff-induced hikes. That was its fastest rise since late-2022. Some of that 'gain' will have been from early price hikes, of course.
Going the other way, the NFIB Small Business Optimism Index fell sharply in March, by its most since June 2022 and to its lowest level since October 2024. This was a much larger fall than anyone saw coming. They anticipated a fall but not like this. The component 'uncertainty index' stayed at record high levels.
Americans' appetite for consumer debt actually fell in February by -US$810 mln, the first drop since November. This followed a downwardly revised increase of +US$8.9 bln in January and came in well below the +US$15 bln rise expected. There were sharp and notable drops in demand for credit card debt, and car loan debt.
The latest UST 3 year bond auction was well supported. But there was a notable -8.5% drop in total bids this time, the largest easing of support we have seen. It delivered a median yield of 3.70%, down from 3.85% at the prior equivalent event a month ago.
In China, there is a notable fall in the price of iron ore, down -12.5% from the start of April. That has yet to show up in the cash USD price of Australian iron ore, but it will soon. For reference the price of copper is down -18% in the same eight days.
In China, the 'home team' is stepping up to buy equities to prevent them crashing further. State funds were reported to be very active yesterday. Separately, China is letting its currency weaken as a counterweight to the American tariffs. The yuan (CNY) isn't moving much but trending from the target 7.2:USD, but this official set rate is moving in the same direction as the offshore yuan (CNH) and heading to 7.35:USD. It is now at a 17 year low to the USD. China said it will "fight to the end" opposing the new US tariffs.
Australia's NAB business confidence index ticked lower in March 2025 from a revised negative level in February, and it is now at its lowest level since November 2024.
Staying in Australia, the Westpac Melbourne Institute consumer sentiment survey is seeing fear rising after the Trump tariff actions. Sentiment is -10% lower among those surveyed after the earlier April US tariff announcements. Aussies are now less confident on prospect of interest rate cuts by the RBA.
Internationally, the IAEA says that while there is enough uranium being mined to support nuclear energy demand for the next 25 years, more will be needed if the current high-growth plans for capacity expansion continue, and the world could run out by 2080.
The UST 10yr yield is now at 4.25%, up +10 bps from this time yesterday. Risk premiums are still rising.
The price of gold will start today at just under US$2980/oz, and up +US$14 from yesterday.
Oil prices have dropped -US$1.50 from yesterday at just over US$60/bbl in the US and the international Brent price is now just under US$63.50/bbl.
The Kiwi dollar is now at 55.5 USc, unchanged from yesterday at this time. Against the Aussie we are up +40 bps at 92.9 AUc and that's a ten month high. Against the euro we up +10 bps from yesterday at just on 50.8 euro cents. That all means our TWI-5 starts today now just on 65.6 and up +10 bps from yesterday.
The bitcoin price starts today at US$77,213 and falling, and down another -2.1% from this time yesterday. Volatility over the past 24 hours has been moderate at +/- 2.6%.
Join us at 2pm later today for the Official Cash Rate review, the first by newly appointed interim Governor Christian Hawkesby. A -25 bps cut to 3.50% is widely anticipated, but given the global turmoil, most of the focus will be on how they see those pressures playing out in New Zealand and how they will respond to them.
You can find links to the articles mentioned today in our show notes.
You can get more news affecting the economy in New Zealand from interest.co.nz.
Kia ora. I'm David Chaston. And we will do this again tomorrow.