New Zealand Trade Balance for March comes in at a deficit, which is a surprise
-86 m NZD
- expected was a surplus of 275m
- prior surplus (February) was 217m
Exports 4.85NZD bn
for a big miss
- expected 4.91bn, previous 4.46bn
Imports 4.94NZD bn, much higher than expected
- expected 4.8bn, prior 4.24bn
For the 12 month YTD trade balance, comes in at -3421m (expected -2900m, prior -3074m)
NZD got marked lower, briefly briefly under 0.7060 but is more or less unchanged on its level just prior to the release as I update. NZD has been under sustained pressure - its hanging in ahead of 0.7050 and there is still work to do around there, under that level it looks vulnerable still.
For background on this data point check out the preview posted here
Car imports were impacted in February by the stink bug issue (pic for the fans of the lil critters is below) - so landing the cars in March may account for the higher than expected imports (although everyone had been expecting this .... go figure). Gonna have to suss out the miss on exports though.
