New Zealand dollar remains steady trading above 59 US cents

Key Movers

The US Dollar Index (DXY) struggled to extend its bounce on Tuesday, hovering near the 98.50 zone after recovering slightly from the three-year trough of 98.01. Trump’s criticism, calling Powell “a major loser” and threatening to remove him for not cutting rates ,has alarmed investors and dragged on the Greenback’s long-term credibility. Overnight the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite tumbled 2.55 percent, dragging the index down nearly 18 percent from its position at the start of the year. US government bonds also fell as investors sold off the traditional safe-haven assets, with the yield on 10-year Treasury notes rising above 4.4 percent. Trump has repeatedly threatened to replace Powell, saying last week that his termination “cannot come fast enough”. On the data front yesterday The Richmond Federal Reserve's manufacturing index plummeted to -13 in April, down from March's -4 reading and far worse than analysts' estimates of -6. April's reading reflected the sharpest decline in factory activity since November 2024, with the shipments index falling to -17 from -7, the steepest decline in seven months, and new orders dropping from 5 to -17.Expectations on future shipments sank to -20, in sharp contrast to the prior month's reading of 7. Elsewhere, the backlog of orders sank to -24 from -1 as manufacturers depleted pending work to limit a sharper decline in shipments.