New Zealand Dollar Closes at 0.5605 as US Inflation Slows to 0.4%

Key Facts

The New Zealand dollar closed at 0.5605 US dollars on November 10, down from 0.56299 dollars the previous day, as US inflation data for October were released. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics said the Consumer Price Index rose 0.4% month over month after a 0.6% increase in September. The latest reading puts the monthly rise in the context of a slowdown, with core inflation remaining at 0.3%. After the report, the 10-year US Treasury yield rose to 4.99% from 4.88% late Monday. The New Zealand currency moved in a session that also saw traders reassess their expectations for the path of US interest rates.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics said the Consumer Price Index, excluding food and energy, rose 0.3% in October, the same monthly increase recorded in September and August. The pace of core inflation was therefore unchanged from the previous two months, while the headline index’s increase slowed from 0.6% in September to 0.4% in October. The headline index stood at 337.511 on a 1982–84=100 basis, with a non-seasonally adjusted increase of 0.2% during the month. This unadjusted reading differs from the seasonally adjusted monthly increase the bureau reported for the headline figure. The release did not provide a market forecast against which to compare the result.

Among the components, the shelter index rose 0.3% in October, and the bureau said it accounted for more than 30% of the monthly increase in the headline index. The food index rose 0.5%, with food at home up 0.4% and food away from home up 0.5%. The energy index also rose 0.7% during the month, following a larger 5.2% increase in September. These figures show differing rates of increase among food and energy components and the core index, which held at 0.3% monthly. The published release did not include annual estimates for some indexes affected by the data collection interruption.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics said it did not collect October 2025 survey data because of a lapse in appropriations, making it impossible to publish 12-month changes for October 2026 for the affected indexes. The absence of this annual comparison limits the view of price trends over a year for these series, while monthly change data remain available in the release. In its account of the market reaction, the Associated Press said traders raised their expectations for further Federal Reserve rate increases after the report. The 10-year US Treasury yield rose in the same session to 4.99%, compared with 4.88% late Monday. EL7 daily closing data show the New Zealand dollar against the US dollar falling from 0.56299 on November 9 to 0.5605 on November 10.

A report published by Investing.com on November 10 said the pair traded near 0.5636 dollars, up about 0.1% in the latest session after rising nearly 1.5% on Monday. The report attributed the New Zealand currency’s earlier recovery to preliminary election results that eased political uncertainty and broader weakness in the US dollar. These figures reflect different timing and measurement from EL7’s daily close of 0.5605 on November 10. The available data do not establish that US inflation came in above market expectations, nor do they alone support a generalization about the dollar’s moves against major currencies. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is scheduled to release November CPI data on December 10, 2026, at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time.