NZD/USD picks up bids below 0.6600 on upbeat ANZ data, risk on mood

• NZD/USD bounces off intraday low of 0.6571 after initially easing from 0.6584.
• US President Trump signals COVID-19 vaccine just after the election, can consider Democrats’ counterproposal.
• New Zealand’s ANZ Business Confidence and Activity Outlook flashed upbeat results for October.
• US VP Debate, Trump’s health and stimulus headlines will be the key.

NZD/USD rises to 0.6575, after taking a U-turn from the daily low of 0.6571, during Thursday’s initial Asian session. In doing so, the kiwi pair respects the recovery in risk sentiment as well as better than forecast and prior preliminary readings of New Zealand’s October month ANZ Business Confidence and Activity Outlook.

The latest data from New Zealand suggest ANZ Business Confidence recovered from -32.6 forecast and -28.5 prior to -14.5 in October. Further details suggest that the ANZ Activity Outlook rose beyond -14.6% expected and -5.4% previous readouts to +3.6%.

Good news from the US ahead of VP debate…

Earlier during the day, US President Donald Trump tweeted a video message to rekindle his health recovery. In addition to coveying that he feels perfect, the Republican leader also mentioned that the coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine will be out just after the November month’s Presidential election. In doing so, Mr. Trump blamed political rivalry for the delay in letting the cure available for use.

In a separate note, the White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows also mentioned that Trump is ready to consider Democratic counterproposal if US House speaker Nancy Pelosi respects the administration’s position.

The moves help S&P 500 Futures to mark 0.22% intraday gains after Wall Street recovered Tuesday’s losses by the end of Wednesday’s North American session.

Considering the lack of any major data/events, NZD/USD traders will pay close attention to the US Vice Presidential (VP) Debate, at 01:00 GMT, whereas the current VP Mike Pence for and Senator Kamala Harris will face each other. Also important will be the Chinese traders’ reaction to the latest market plays after returning from a week-long Golden Holidays.

Read: VP Debate Preview: Preventing a landslide Trump loss? Pence may win Harris, narrowing the race

Technical analysis

Failures to cross 21-day SMA, currently around 0.6635, drag the NZD/USD prices toward the 100-day SMA level of 0.6553.