‘Shocking’ New Zealand Rate Cut Roils Currency Markets

Anyone who doubted RBNZ's willingness to deliver on Wednesday was disabused of their skepticism. New Zealand cut rates by 50bps, surprising consensus which was looking for 25. "GDP growth has slowed over the past year and growth headwinds are rising", the central bank said in the statement, adding that "in the absence of additional monetary stimulus, employment and inflation would likely ease relative to our targets". The bank described the larger-than-expected cut as a testament to their "ongo