NZDUSD stretches up toward the recent swing area and 50% retracement

The
 
 NZDUSD  has stretched higher after the FOMC meeting minutes, and trades at the highest level of the day and the week.

The pair is also moving closer to last Friday’s high at 0.66928. That level – up to 0.67012 – is a swing area to get to and through (see red numbered circles).

Above that, is the 50% midpoint of the move down from the January high to the January low (the 2022 trading range). That level comes in at 0.67095.

Getting above that area would increase the bullish bias.

Next week, the RBNZ will meet for the first time since raising rates by 25 basis points on November 24th to 0.75%. They are expecting to raise rates by another 25 basis points to 1.0% next week. It would be the third meeting in a row (they hiked in October as well).

After the November 23 meeting Orr said:

• house price rises will alleviate as interest rates rise
• reopening of the New Zealand border does not change the policy outlook
• 25bp hike gives more
   
   options  , can take time at this point
• not worried about rising wages, these have been well behaved
• given huge debt loads we must exercise caution
• Orr says he sees steady 25bp steps as the balanced approach for now
• sees the OCR (official cash rate) at 2.5% by the end of 2023