Sometimes it's about the data, sometimes it isn't
New Zealand only reports on jobs every three months so in theory it should be three times more important.
The market would argue otherwise.
NZD/USD jumped 30 pips on the headlines, peaked a few minutes later and has gone straight down since.
Keep in mind just how strong the data was:
- Unemployment fell to 4.9% from 5.2% despite a 0.1 pp rise in participation
- Employment rose 1.2% q/q compared to 0.8% exp
What the market didn't like -- and this rings a bell in the US as well -- was that wage growth was just 0.3% compared to 0.7% expected.
This is the age of wage angst. Markets are increasingly saying this is an era where almost any job can be offshored or given to a robot, so lower unemployment doesn't mean better wages (and by extension inflation).
