New Zealand phased border re-opening pushed out due to omicron variant

Ross J Burland FXStreet

New Zealand's phased border re-opening has been pushed out to the end of February from January due to the Omicron variant.

Some believe bigger changes to the COVID response are coming. Auckland University COVID modeller Dr Dion O'Neale says the traffic light system wasn't created with Omicron in mind.

We wouldn't expect orange or even red to limit the spread of Omicron," he explained.

"To be honest it's probably going to be going back to something like the alert level interventions."

NZD/USD is following in the footsteps of the Australian dollar and has not been directly affected by the domestic covid latest news.

Author

Ross J Burland

FXStreet

Ross J Burland, born in England, UK, is a sportsman at heart. He played Rugby and Judo for his county, Kent and the South East of England Rugby team.

EUR/USD eases to four-week lows near 1.1650

EUR/USD now loses further momentum and recedes to multi-week lows near 1.1650 on Thursday. The pair’s extra retracement comes on the back of the persistent bid tone in the US Dollar as investors continue to gear up for the release of the December NFP figures on Friday.

GBP/USD: Further weakness could challenge 1.3400

GBP/USD remains under unabated selling pressure on Thursday, slipping to fresh three-day lows around 1.3415 in response to further improvement in the sentiment surrounding the Greenback ahead of Friday’s key NFP data.

Gold bounces back to its comfort zone

Gold now manages to regain some balance, fading its earlier pullback to the proximity of the $4,400 region per troy ounce and reshifting its attention to the $4,450 zone on Thursday. The yellow metal’s move lower comes in response to a better tone in the Greenback and the generalised recovery in US Treasury yields.

Crypto Today: Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP extend decline as ETF outflows pose headwinds

Bitcoin struggles with selling pressure as institutional investor sentiment deteriorates. Ethereum hangs onto the 50-day EMA lifeline amid growing overhead risks and the resumption of ETF outflows.

2026 economic outlook: Clear skies but don’t unfasten your seatbelts yet

Most years fade into the background as soon as a new one starts. Not 2025: a year of epochal shifts, in which the macroeconomy was the dog that did not bark. What to expect in 2026? The shocks of 2025 will not be undone, but neither will they be repeated.

XRP slides as institutional and retail demand falters

Ripple is trading down for the third consecutive day on Thursday amid escalating volatility in the cyrptocurrency market. After peaking at $2.41 on Tuesday, its highest print since November 14 amid the early-year rally, XRP has quickly ran into aggressive profit-taking.