New Zealand dollar continues to trade below US$0.61

Key Movers

In the US overnight, the consumer price index (CPI) or simply inflation data, rose by 2.4% in September on an annualised basis. The figure was the lowest the US has seen in the last three years, but slightly overshot analysts’ consensus views for a 2.3% rise. The monthly rate also topped expectations, coming in at a 0.2% clip from August, against calls for 0.1%. Core prices stayed elevated at 3.3% from a year ago, surpassing the 3.2% clip expected. The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits last week jumped to its highest level in a year, which analysts are saying is more likely a result of Hurricane Helene and the Boeing machinist strike  than a broader softening in the labor market. The Labor Department reported Thursday that applications for jobless claims jumped by 33,000 to 258,000 for the week of Oct. 3. That’s the most since Aug. 5, 2023 and well above the 229,000 analysts were expecting. The four-week average of claims, which evens out some of that weekly volatility, rose by 6,750 to 231,000. The total number of Americans collecting jobless benefits rose by 42,000 to about 1.86 million for the week of Sept. 28, the highest since late July. During the first four months of 2024, applications for jobless benefits averaged just 213,000 a week before rising in May. They hit 250,000 in late July, supporting the notion that high interest rates were finally cooling a red-hot U.S. job market.