Another lift in the USD and US bond yields has taken the US Dollar Index all the way back to early July levels, before its precipitous decline to the year’s low. The culprit: strong US ADP jobs data and bond market nervousness about Fitch’s downgrade of the US credit rating which has ironically seen the USD firm. Clouded and muddy? For sure.

Local Q2 labour market data did play a role in the weakness, mostly on account of the rise in unemployment and a labour supply side thematic, but the big story for NZD/USD now looks to be the USD into NFP data on Friday.

Technically, support at 0.6050 is close, and all eyes are on 0.60.